Was YSR chopper crash the result of sabotage?

The Andhra Pradesh government on Friday said it would ask the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the sabotage angle in the death of former chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy in a chopper crash in the wake of conspiracy theories surfacing over the incident.

"We have decided to ask the CBI to probe the conspiracy angle in view of the doubts raised over the incident," state home minister P Sabita Reddy said in Hyderabad on Thursday.

The last month's chopper crash that led to the death of the Congress leader is being probed by the CBI, Directorate-General of Civil Aviation and a two-member committee of experts formed by the state government.

The conspiracy theories came into circulation following reports in a section of the media. The reports questioned the air-worthiness of the 11-year-old Bell-430 helicopter that flew Reddy and four others. It was also pointed out why the advanced Agasta-Westland chopper was not used and why the helicopter carrying the chief minister deviated from its original route.

Meanwhile, opposition Telugu Desam Party said Rajasekhara Reddy's close friend K V P Ramachandra Rao should quit as head of the panel on public safety.

Meanwhile, state panchayat raj minister Botsa Satyanarayana said the entire cabinet has to take moral responsibility collectively if the conspiracy theories are proved. Congress MP Madhu Yashki Goud, too, has demanded that Ramachandra Rao and the home minister resign owning moral responsibility for the crash of Reddy's chopper.

Image: Wreckage of YSR's helicopter in the Nallamalla forests of Andhra Pradesh