Rohit Pawar seeks independent probe into Baramati plane crash

NAtionalist united states congress company (SP) superior general secretarial assistant and MLA Rohit Pawar on sabbatum wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to ask civil aviation minister K Ram Mohan Naidu to resign from his post until the inquiry into the January 28 plane crash that killed former Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar is completed.Meanwhile, the ministry of civil aviation on Thursday said the preliminary report into the crash that killed Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and four others will be released by February 28.Calling the situation a “political or corporate conspiracy”, Pawar said, “We demand a transparent and independent probe under the committee of retired officers, a former judge, Leader of Opposition (LoP) of Lok Sabha, LoP in Maharashtra, MPs including Supriya Sule, family members of dada (Ajit Pawar), and other party members.”The investigation has been under scrutiny. Rohit, a third-generation leader from the Pawar family — Ajit’s father and Rohit’s grandfather were siblings — raised questions about VSR Ventures’ maintenance practices. On February 10, he said the crash could be an act of sabotage. He is part of the Sharad Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party, from which Ajit broke away in July 2023.Seeking a transparent and time-bound investigation, Pawar wrote, “Serious questions have arisen about the company VSR and its links with Shri Ram Mohan Naidu. These links must be investigated by an independent and competent authority.”“You have always shown respect for Ajit Dada and his contribution to the country. In this context, I request that Shri Ram Mohan Naidu be asked to resign from his post until the investigation is completed,” he said.“This is necessary to ensure that there is no influence or interference in examining whether the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) was compromised in any manner in relation to VSR,” the letter stated.Addressing the media from Nationalist Congress Party–Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SP) chief Sharad Pawar’s residence, Rohit said he had appealed to the PM for his personal intervention as no other authority could ensure an independent investigation.Pawar alleged that one of VSR’s key lenders, Heritage Finlease Limited, has directors drawn from the family of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, including his wife, as well as the wife of Andhra Pradesh minister Nara Lokesh.He said this funding trail directly overlapped with the political affiliation of the civil aviation minister and constituted a clear conflict of interest.He also alleged that VSR, which owned the jet that crashed in Baramati, manages aircraft used by several eminent personalities and that influential figures from the ruling party and TDP attended the wedding of VSR promoter Rohit Singh in Jaipur, pointing to what he described as the company’s proximity to political and corporate power across party lines.Referring to an update by the civil aviation ministry issued on February 19, Pawar questioned the statement that the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) had been successfully downloaded while the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) sustained “thermal damage.”He questioned how this was possible, as the black box is designed to withstand extreme temperatures. “If one survived, how did the other fail?” he questioned.Pawar also raised questions about the timeline of the special audit of VSR, stating that the audit committee was constituted on February 2 with a report due on February 15, but no report had been made public yet.To be sure, the civil aviation ministry, in a statement on February 19, stated, “Following the accident, the Ministry asked the DGCA to conduct a Special Audit of VSR Ventures to conduct a comprehensive review of regulatory compliance, operational control systems, maintenance practices, crew training standards, safety management systems, and CVR/FDR monitoring. The audit commenced on 4 February 2026 and is expected to conclude shortly. Findings will be reviewed and action will be taken in accordance with DGCA’s Enforcement Policy and Procedures Manual.”He said only two pilots were on the committee and alleged that neither was type-rated on the Learjet 45 aircraft involved in the crash.Pawar alleged that VSR did not frequently conduct the mandatory breath analyser (BA) tests for pilots.He also alleged that the aircraft involved in the crash had only 85 hours of engine life remaining, despite norms requiring overhaul much earlier.According to Pawar, under-logging of flight hours was common at VSR.The aircraft also had a message on the CAS (crew alerting system) indicating fuel imbalance, Pawar alleged. “What does it mean? One tank has less fuel than another, which also means the aircraft can lose its balance and tilt to one side, which actually happened during this incident. This can happen due to cross-feed valve fault or incorrect fuelling and is a No-Go item,” he alleged, adding that there were suspicions that extra fuel cans had been illegally stored at the rear of the aircraft.“The possibility cannot be ruled out that this excess fuel was the reason the explosions inside the aircraft were more severe. Was the aircraft’s fuel tank completely filled? Considering that fuel could have been refilled later at Baramati, Shamsabad, or Patna, why then was the tank kept full from the start?”Ajit Pawar was travelling to Baramati when his plane crash-landed after reportedly failing to spot the runway and burst into flames. He died in the incident along with his security officer Vidip Jadhav, pilot-in-command Captain Sumit Kapur, First Officer Captain Shambhavi Pathak and flight attendant Pinky Mali.