Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Ajit Pawar died in a plane crash on Wednesday morning.
According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), five people, including the crew, on board the chartered plane flying from Mumbai to Baramati, died after a crash-landing at 8.45 am this morning.
Those onboard the plane, including Pawar, were Head Constable Vidip Jadhav, Flight Attendant Pinky Mali, Pilot-in-Command Capt. Sumit Kapur and Second-in-Command Capt. Shambhavi Pathak. They have also lost their lives in the crash.
The aircraft involved in the accident was a Learjet 45 belonging to Delhi-based charter company, VSR.
Pawar was headed to Baramati to attend a public rally for the Zilla Parishad Elections. Pawar was in Mumbai on Tuesday, where he attended a meeting of the Maharashtra Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure, chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Maharashtra Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule and other officials were also present.
Ajit Pawar was the longest-serving Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra non-consecutively. He served in the position for six terms within various governments. He had worked as deputy chief minister in the cabinets of Prithviraj Chavan, Devendra Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde.
He is married to Sunetra Pawar, with whom he has two sons, Jay and Parth Pawar.
