Ajit Pawar Death: PIL Seeks Court-Monitored Probe Into Baramati Plane Crash

Mumbai, Feb 26: A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Bombay High Court seeking a court-monitored probe into the Learjet crash at Baramati on January 28 that killed Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and five others.

Plea seeks CID probe and judicial commission

The PIL, by social activist Ketan Tirodkar, has sought directions to the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for an investigation into the ‘accidental death’ of the Deputy CM.

He has also sought that a judicial commission headed by a retired high court judge be constituted, along with aviation experts, including a retired DGCA Director and a chief maintenance engineer from a commercial airline.

The activist has claimed that he wrote to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on February 20 requesting a CID probe into the crash. He had also filed several Right to Information (RTI) applications with the DGCA, Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), Chief Minister’s Office, and Baramati police, seeking details ranging from booking of the flight to black box analysis and regulatory permissions for the aircraft.

Since he did not receive any response, he filed the PIL.

Questions raised in petition

Several issues have been flagged in the PIL, including the alleged last-minute switch from road travel to a flight. He also questions the replacement of two originally deputed pilots, reportedly due to a traffic jam.

The plea also refers to repeated landing requests for different runways at Baramati and raises doubts over whether the Learjet was duly registered in India or was operating on a US-registered number.

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The petition also refers to public statements and press conferences by late Ajit Pawar’s nephew, MLA Rohit Pawar, where he has alleged irregularities in the aircraft’s operations and also shared purported chats between airline staff, pilots, and politicians.

The petition is yet to be listed for hearing.

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