File Picture
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and three other persons were killed after an aircraft carrying them crashed in Pune district on Wednesday morning, officials said. The incident occurred when Pawar’s plane was landing in Pune’s Baramati area, they said.
The 66-year-old leader’s death has not only left a vacuum in the BJP-led state coalition government, but also cast a shadow on the future of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which he headed.
Maharashtra governor Acharya Devvrat, CM Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy CM Eknath Shinde, met Sunetra Pawar, wife of Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, in Baramati.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) will probe the plane crash at Baramati airport that killed Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others .
Ajit Pawar had taken off from Mumbai in the morning to address four rallies in the day in Pune district for the February 5 zilla parishad elections.
The others killed in the tragedy were Captain Sumit Kapoor, who had a flying experience of 15,000 hours, co-pilot Capt. Shambhavi Pathak with 1,500 hours of flying, personal security officer Vidip Jadhav and flight attendant Pinky Mali.
