5 min readJan 28, 2026 10:45 PM IST
First published on: Jan 28, 2026 at 01:12 PM IST
“Sir, I am a poor man. I have children to think about,” the gatekeeper pleaded, his voice trembling as two Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) officials stood before him at the VSR Aviation compound in Mahipalpur’s L block. “If you cooperate nothing will happen to you” one of the two officials who had come to inspect the chartered flight operator’s office said.
Hours after a chartered Learjet operated by the Delhi-based company crashed at Baramati airport, on which Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others were onboard, AAIB investigators arrived at the flight operator’s office to begin their inquiry. What they found was a puzzle: they had seen three to four people in the office’s compound who had suddenly gone missing.
Ajit Pawar Plane Crash LIVE Updates
The male investigator held out his hand. “We need your Aadhaar card to verify your identity. Please cooperate with us,” he told the gatekeeper. The officials had arrived the office compound around 11.30 am, as per the gatekeeper, and The Indian Express reached there at 11.40 am, when it found the officials interrogating the gatekeeper.
The officials had arrived the office compound around 11.30 am, as per the gatekeeper. (Express photo)
The gatekeeper, a middle-aged man in a beige sweatshirt and navy blue pants, kept resisting: “I have kids to take care of, I don’t know anything about those guys you saw.”
The two investigators also went down to a door in the basement floor, suspecting that it was interconnected to the main office building. It was closed from inside. “If no one is inside the office, how is it closed from inside,” one of the officials asked. Then they waited in their official car, a white Maruti Suzuki Ciaz.
The two investigators also went down to a door in the basement floor, suspecting that it was interconnected to the main office building. It was closed from inside. (Express photo)
A few minutes later, around 12.15 pm, a person from VSR Ventures arrived at the office compound, and the office was opened. The person’s identity could not be immediately ascertained, but he accompanied the waiting AAIB officials inside the office. A short while later, another official arrived, and took off his lanyard before entering the compound. As the people started discussions inside the office, the shutter was closed from outside.
As the people started discussions inside the office, the shutter was closed from outside. (Express photo)
The aircraft with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on board flew for around 35 minutes before crashing near Baramati, according to flight tracking data. According to preliminary information provided by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), none of the five people on board survived the crash. As it is a serious accident, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is expected to investigate the crash.
The jet—identified as a Learjet 45bearing registration VT-SSK and operated by private jet charter operator VSR Aviation—took off from Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at around 8:10 am and disappeared from the radar at about 8:45 am, as per the flight tracking data from Flightradar24. The flight path shows the aircraft making a loop to line up with the runway as it prepared to land at the Baramati airport, before disappearing from the flight tracker, The Indian Express has reported.
Outside the VSR office in Mahipalpur. (Express photo)
The Learjet 45 is a mid-size business jet aircraft manufactured by Canada’s Bombardier Aerospace, with around 640 such planes built during its manufacturing run between 1995 and 2012. The nine-seater jet that crashed belonged to Delhi-based VSR Aviation. Other details, including the age of the doomed plane, were not immediately available. According to the DGCA database, VSR had a fleet of 18 aircraft, including the one that crashed on Wednesday.
As per information available on the operator’s website, its main services include private jet charter and leasing, and air ambulance services, and operates primarily from Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bhopal. According to Registrar of Companies (RoC) records, VSR Aviation seemingly has two companies in its fold—VSR Ventures and VSR Aero Engineering—with Vijay Kumar Singh and Rohit Singh listed as directors. According to sources, Rohit Singh is Vijay Kumar Singh’s son, and both are pilots by training.
AAIB investigators arrived at the flight operator's office to begin their inquiry. (Express photo) 
The officials had arrived the office compound around 11.30 am, as per the gatekeeper. (Express photo)
The two investigators also went down to a door in the basement floor, suspecting that it was interconnected to the main office building. It was closed from inside. (Express photo)
As the people started discussions inside the office, the shutter was closed from outside. (Express photo)
Outside the VSR office in Mahipalpur. (Express photo)
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