KOLHAPUR/PUNE: Probe into the death of a South Korean national while paragliding near Panchgani hill has revealed that the organisers were denied permission by a district-level committee to conduct any competition in the area.Satara superintendent of police Pankaj Deshmukh told TOI that initial investigation has found that the organizers had not obtained any permission from the competent authority to conduct the event. “Our investigation shows that their application was rejected,” he said.Sang-teak Oh (45), a South Korean national, was killed after his glider crashed into a hill in Satara district , around 20km from Panchgani, on Tuesday afternoon. The Satara police arrested Vistasp Kharas (45), a Bandra resident, who was the organizer, under Section 188 of the IPC for disobedience of an order duly promulgated by a public servant and under Section 304 (A) for causing death by negligence. Kharaswas later released on bail.Satara district sport officer Yuvraj Naik stated that Panchgani paragliding competition was not granted any permission by any authority. “Conducting events or competitions of adventures sports has become difficult after the state government issued guidelines in July 2018. A district-level committee comprising collector, police superintendent, sports officer, divisional forest officer, civil surgeon and two sports persons, takes the decision on all such applications,” he said.The paragliding competition was proposed to be held from February 17-19. Some participants had allegedy reached Panchgani for practice.Naik said all adventures sports events like paragliding, mountaineering and scuba diving need such permissions. “No permission was given to the Panchgani paragliding competition. Permission can be given only to those organizations, which are duly registered with the government,” he said.When contacted, Kharas said preparations for the contest had started in October 2018. “We had started applying for various permissions in November 2018 and we have all the supporting documents. The district sports authority (DSA) replied to our application on February 4, declining the permission. The letter reached us on February 8, just four days before the competition was set to start.”Kharas said, “We had sought them to make an exception and provide us with the permission. We did not start the contest on the said day but it was a trial day.”Shunit Rao, a certified paraglider, who had taken off with the South Korean on that day, said they were given a task to complete. “When I touched ground, I heard a rescue call on the radio. It spoke about a flier who was flying too low and the air was turbulent. He was caught in the turbulence and dropped further and fell.”

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