Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s sons, Jay and Parth Pawar, lit the funeral pyre of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader on Thursday and bid a final goodbye to their father, who died in a tragic plane crash the previous day.
Jay Pawar and Parth Pawar performed their father’s last rites at the Vidya Pratishthan ground in their hometown, Baramati, surrounded by family, colleagues and a sea of the late NCP leader’s supporters. Follow latest news on Ajit Pawar’s death and the plane crash
Ajit Pawar was accorded a state funeral on Thursday, with CM Devendra Fadnavis, deputy CM Eknath Shinde, Union home minister Amit Shah, Union minister Nitin Gadkari and BJP national president Nitin Nabin in attendance among several other dignitaries.
Ajit Pawar’s plane crash
Ajit Pawar, 66, was travelling in Learjet 45, a mid-size business jet, which departed from Mumbai at 8:10 am on Wednesday. He was scheduled to be in Baramati to address four rallies for the upcoming Zilla Parishad polls.
Thirteen minutes later, the plane began its descent but aborted the first landing attempt after the pilot couldn’t see the runway. The plane circled back, and the pilots — Captain Sumit Kapoor and first officer Shambhavi Pathak — confirmed a second landing attempt at 8:43 am.
A minute later, the air traffic control (ATC) at the Baramati airport saw fire near the runway as the aircraft veered off course and crashed, bursting into flames within seconds.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation has formed a three-member team to investigate the plane crash. The ministry said in a statement that the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) team, along with another three-member team from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Mumbai Regional Office, reached the crash site on the day of the incident itself.
“The investigation is progressing expeditiously, and the black box of the ill-fated aircraft has been recovered,” the Ministry said in a post on X, stressing that “ensuring a thorough, transparent, and time-bound inquiry remains a top priority.”