FIR against former Go First board for alleged fraud over post-insolvency ticket sales
The Ernakulam Police have registered an FIR against the entire board of directors of the erstwhile Go First, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)
The Ernakulam Police have registered an FIR against the entire board of directors of the erstwhile Go First, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and two online travel booking portals over allegations that they continued to sell tickets for travel on the airline for almost two weeks after it had initiated the process of seeking voluntary insolvency in 2023, allegedly defrauding millions of passengers. The FIR, registered on July 9, under Section 406 (Punishment for Criminal Breach of Trust), Section 415 (Cheating), Section 420 (Fraud) Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) names all 13 directors on the board of Go First that includes chairman Nusli Neville Wadia, his son Ness Nusli Wadia, CEO Kaushik Khona as well as an unnamed official of the DGCA, booking portals Ease My Trip and ClearTrip and Resolution Professional Shailendra Ajmera.
The FIR follows an order from Ernakulam’s Chief Judicial Magistrate Court earlier this month to the police to register an FIR and investigate a complaint by Yeshwant Shenoy, an aggrieved passenger, advocate and aviation safety activist. Shenoy, who lost ₹64,000 after booking Kochi–Mumbai tickets for his family and friends on the day Go First filed its insolvency plea, has alleged that the airline’s board entered “into a criminal conspiracy to cause wrongful loss to millions of passengers while making wrongful gains” by continuing to sell tickets despite having already approved the decision to initiate insolvency proceedings. According to the complaint, the board resolved on April 28, 2023, to seek insolvency, obtained shareholders’ approval at an extraordinary general meeting on April 30, and proceeded to file the plea thereafter on May 2.
Although the complainant repeatedly wrote to the DGCA seeking a halt to ticket sales, the regulator directed Go First to stop selling tickets only on May 10, after he secured directions from the Kerala High Court. The complainant has alleged that the DGCA “conspired” with Go First to continue ticket sales despite being aware of the airline’s decision to seek insolvency. He has argued that the regulator departed from its own precedent, pointing out that in December 2014 it had directed SpiceJet to restrict advance ticket bookings when the airline was facing financial distress. The complainant has also alleged that the airline significantly understated the scale of passenger losses. While Go First’s CEO stated that 4,118 flights were cancelled in April, affecting 77,500 passengers and media reports pegged passenger dues at about ₹900 crore, the complainant contended that these estimates were conservative.
The BriefWire