Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, 4 others killed in plane crash

Hours after the crash, V K Singh, director of VSR Ventures (VSR Aviation), which operated the Bombardier Learjet 45 aircraft, said preliminary indications suggested visibility issues during landing. “…it appears that, you know, the pilot could not see the runway… that’s why he would have carried out (a second attempt at landing),” he said.

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Baramati airport is a small regional airstrip used mainly for pilot training and private aircraft. It does not have navigational aids for low-visibility conditions, requiring pilots to rely largely on visual judgement and radio communication. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) will probe the accident, with Pune Rural police assisting the inquiry, officials said.

NCP sources said Pawar had boarded the flight to reach Pune for campaigning in the ongoing Zilla Parishad elections. He was scheduled to address four rallies in the district. At the time of the crash, members of the Pawar family, including Ajit Pawar’s uncle Sharad Pawar, cousin Supriya Sule and wife Sunetra Pawar, were in Delhi for the first day of the Budget Session of Parliament. They left for Baramati soon after receiving the news.

Later Wednesday, a team from the AAIB and officials from the Maharashtra Forensic Science Laboratory reached Baramati to collect samples and begin investigations.

Flight-tracking data showed the aircraft in the air for around 35 minutes before it crashed. The jet, bearing registration VT-SSK, took off from Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at around 8.10 am and disappeared from radar at about 8.45 am, according to Flightradar24.

The flight path indicated the aircraft made a loop to align with the runway while preparing to land at Baramati airport before vanishing from the tracker.

Media personnel and NCP workers were waiting outside the airport to receive Pawar when they heard “a loud noise that sounded like an explosion”. “Everyone ran towards the runway while some jumped over the fence,” an NCP worker told The Indian Express.

Those who reached the spot said Pawar was identified by his hand and wristwatch — a detail that unsettled party workers, given that the NCP’s election symbol is a clock and Pawar was known to be fond of wristwatches.

All five bodies, with severe burns and scalding, were taken to Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Government Medical College in Baramati, senior authorities told The Indian Express.

The Maharashtra government later announced three days of state mourning. The national flag will be flown at half-mast across the state from January 28 to 30, and no official entertainment will be held during this period. All state government offices were ordered closed on January 28.

As condolences poured in from across the political spectrum, Sharad Pawar, who was also Ajit Pawar’s political mentor, appealed against bringing “politics” into an “accidental death” that has come as “a very big shock” for the state.

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“Maharashtra has lost a highly capable leader today. It is a loss that can never be made up. However, not everything is in our hands. This is purely an accident and there is no politics involved in it. I request everyone not to bring politics into this. We, and Maharashtra, are deeply hurt by this. Please do not politicise this,” he said.

Prime Minister Modi described Ajit Pawar as “a leader of the people” with a strong grassroots connect and praised his administrative understanding and commitment to empowering the poor.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said he had lost a close friend. “I am in a state of shock and disbelief and loss of words. I have lost a close friend… all further arrangements will be carried out in consultation with the Pawar family,” he said.

Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule posted a one-word message on WhatsApp: “Devastated.”

On the political front, Pawar’s death leaves the Mahayuti alliance without a key troubleshooter — he was part of the ruling triumvirate along with Fadnavis and the other Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. It also leaves the NCP without a clear leader at a time when talks had begun on uniting with the rival faction led by Sharad Pawar.

Ajit Pawar’s political journey was turbulent, marked by both consolidation of power and dramatic ruptures. Born in 1959, he was the son of Sharad Pawar’s elder brother Anantrao and rose through the cooperative sector under his uncle’s mentorship. He entered electoral politics in 1991 as the MP from Baramati, later resigning to allow Sharad Pawar to contest the seat after joining the Union Cabinet under Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao.\

In November 2019, Ajit Pawar engineered a dramatic political shift by joining hands with the BJP to form a government with Fadnavis as Chief Minister in a surprise early-morning ceremony. The arrangement collapsed within 80 hours after he failed to secure the support of the then NCP legislature party with Sharad Pawar holding the reins.

He returned to the NCP, reconciled with his uncle, and became Deputy Chief Minister again in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government formed in December 2019. For the next three years, he remained a central figure in the coalition, though tensions within the party persisted.

In July 2023, Pawar split the NCP and joined the BJP-led Mahayuti government with the backing of a large group of MLAs. He took charge alongwith Shinde and Fadnavis, ending decades of political unity within the Pawar family.