India, July 12 -- A leading aviation safety expert has claimed that the Air India flight crash in Ahmedabad last year was a result of deliberate human action.

His claim has suggested for the first time the possibility of a pilot-induced crash.

Speaking to NDTV, Captain Mohan Ranganathan, one of India's leading aviation experts, has pointed to the sequence of fuel cutoff switches and cockpit audio to suggest that the crash may have stemmed from deliberate actions taken in the cockpit, potentially even suicide.

When the news channel asked him if one of the pilots intentionally switched off the fuel, fully aware that doing so could cause a crash, Captain Ranganathan said, "Absolutely."

"It has to be manually done," Captain Ranganathan to...