While the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 still remains a mystery, the official police investigation claims the pilot is now the prime suspect, according to reports.
It has been reported that Malaysia's special branch is now conducting a focused investigation on Captain Zaharie Shah, 53. The investigating agencies have reportedly given a clean chit to other flight passengers and crew.
The special investigators have conducted more than 170 interviews, following which they discovered that the captain seemed to have made no plans for the following days, either with his friends or family. In contrast, co-pilot Fariq Hamid and the rest of the crew had one plan or the other, reported the Sunday Times London.
Another major point of suspicion the investigators have had for long is the fact that Zaharie had programmed a flight simulator at his home, with drills rehearsing flying in the southern Indian Ocean with a short runway landing. Even though Zaharie had deleted the simulation, the tech team was able to retrieve the data.
All this contradicts Zaharie's usually outgoing and open nature. The pilot often used to post aviation videos, made through the flight simulation devices, on social media platforms as well. And so, the attempt to destroy this one is also a mystery.
It has to be noted that the first person who indirectly raised suspicion on the involvement of a pilot was Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak, who had suggested that his government thought the missing MH370 was a "deliberate action by someone on the plane".
As far as the investigation goes, criminal inquiry against Zaharie relies purely on circumstantial evidence at the moment, and does not offer any clue on solving MH370's disappearance yet.
The investigators, however, do not rule out the possibility that the Boeing 777-200 could have had a mechanical failure.
Meanwhile, Zaharie's family and friends have rubbished the government claims as 'lies' to mislead the investigation.
Police investigators claimed that the pilot, who lived in his Kuala Lumpur apartment with three children and a five-year-old grandson, had an extra-martial relationship, which had made things difficult for him at home. But the family vehemently opposed the allegations.
Zaharie's daughter Aishah stated that her father was a devoted parent and a loving grandfather.
Friends of the missing pilot have also stressed that they would fight the government's lies till the end.
"This is a promise, if they blame him, I will fight. I just won't keep quiet. Because if you say that he wanted to commit suicide in the Indian Ocean, I say prove it. Why would he want to kill 238 people with him? Why would he be so stupid? He is not," Zaharie's close friend Asuad Khan told Inquisitr.
