India on Monday took possession of a bag of “historic” diplomatic mail 46 years after a plane crash in the French Alps that killed all 117 on board, including the architect of its nuclear programme.
The jute bag, stamped “Diplomatic mail” and “Ministry of External Affairs”, was recovered by mountain rescue worker Arnaud Christmann and his neighbour Jules Berger on August 21 close to where the Air India plane crashed in January 1966.
The victims included the Cambridge-educated nuclear physicist Homi Jehangir Bhabha — dubbed the “father” of India’s nuclear drive — fuelling conspiracy theories the possible involvement of India’s arch-rival Pakistan and the CIA.
The Kangchenjunga, a Boeing 707 flying from Mumbai (then Bombay) to New York, crashed on the southwest face of Mont Blanc, western Europe’s highest mountain, on January 24, 1966 as it descended towards a scheduled stopover in Geneva, Switzerland.
Satwant Khanalia, a second secretary at the Indian embassy in Paris, took possession of the documents from the local police in the town of Chamonix at the base of the mountain.
Mr Khanalia, speaking in French, said the bag “has made a long journey” and added that at “first sight they seem to be old newspapers” but highlighted their “historical value”.
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ISRO chief also guilty: Nair
Age Correspondent
Kochi, Sept. 3
Former chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Mr G. Madhavan Nair, has submitted before the Kochi bench of Central Administrative Tribunal that ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan is also guilty in the controversial Antrix-Devas contract.
In a reply to the Union government, Mr Nair argued that he was not responsible for entering into an agreement on January 28, 2005 between Antrix and Devas.
“The commitment for building the second satellite was made in September 2009 and Radhakrishnan was a member of the Space Commission which endorsed it. He had participated in the deliberations. The minutes of the meeting were approved by him in March 2010. So the culpability of Radhakrishnan is no way different,” Mr Madhavan Nair told the tribunal in an affidavit.