Mumbai, Feb 27 (PTI) Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar on Friday wrote to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis seeking conversion of ‘Devgiri’, the official residence of Ajit Pawar for over two decades, into a memorial, while also demanding a time-bound and impartial inquiry into the January 28 air crash that claimed the former deputy CM’s life.
Rohit Pawar said he personally submitted three letters to Fadnavis, pressing for a comprehensive technical and criminal investigation into the accident and rehabilitation of the families of those killed. Pawar was killed along with four others when their Learjet 45 aircraft crashed near Baramati airport in Pune district.
Apart from the proposed memorial at Devgiri, he urged the state government to name Baramati Airport, the Pune Ring Road, the Talegaon-Chakan-Shikrapur elevated road and the Pune-Shirur elevated road after Ajit Pawar.
In a formal representation to the chief minister, the NCP (SP) legislator said the crash had triggered widespread suspicion across Maharashtra and asserted that “the truth must be brought to light without delay”.
He pointed out that the ill-fated aircraft, operated by private firm VSR, had earlier met with a serious accident at Mumbai airport in 2023 and that the final investigation report in that case was still awaited.
He further claimed that in 2024 the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) had revoked VSR’s status over severe safety violations, a development communicated to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
These aspects, he said, warranted deeper scrutiny of the company’s compliance record.
Rohit Pawar sought an audit of the aircraft’s maintenance and airworthiness records, verification of flight operations and crew compliance, examination of air traffic control (ATC) transcripts and flight radar data, and an inquiry into the decision-making process behind runway selection.
“A transparent probe was essential to eliminate doubts surrounding Ajit Pawar’s death,” the Karjat-Jamkhed MLA said.
Referring to the crash in Baramati, he cited CCTV footage and expert discussions suggesting that the aircraft appeared tilted mid-air and descended prematurely.
He raised concerns over maintenance protocols, safety systems and technical logs, and called for an investigation into eyewitness accounts of multiple explosions, including whether the aircraft was carrying additional fuel.
The MLA also flagged alleged lapses such as the Cockpit Voice Recorder being switched off, regulatory non-compliance, self-conducted maintenance practices, and alleged violations of flight duty time limitations and mandatory breath analyser tests.
Among other “suspicious circumstances” listed in his letter were the decision to undertake the flight a day after a scheduled tour was cancelled, a last-minute change of pilot, operations in low visibility conditions, insistence on landing on Runway-11 despite Runway-29 being available, failure to attempt a go-around, discrepancies in ATC and radar data, and the premature cessation of transponder signals.
Rohit Pawar further alleged the DGCA and the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation appeared to have supported VSR instead of initiating strict action, and sought an independent probe into claims that certain officials may have vested interests in the company. PTI ND BNM
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