Rohit Pawar claims factual errors in plane crash report, suspects cover-up

The report claimed that the aircraft had collided with trees when no trees were present in the vicinity of Baramati airport, Pawar told reporters

Mumbai: Continuing his attack on aviation firm VSR Ventures and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) over the plane crash that killed former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar on Wednesday alleged discrepancies in the preliminary probe report released by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).

NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar addressed a press conference at the Yashwantrao Chavan Centre in south Mumbai on Wednesday (Raju Shinde)

The report claimed that the aircraft had collided with trees when no trees were present in the vicinity of Baramati airport, Pawar told reporters during a press conference at the Yashwantrao Chavan Centre in south Mumbai. He then displayed photographs of a black box, which he claimed was of the aircraft that had crashed, and asserted that it appeared undamaged.

“DGCA deputy director Ramachandran had even signed a document at the Baramati police station saying the black box was intact. But now, the DGCA is claiming that the black box sustained damage,” Pawar said, and alleged attempts were underway to manipulate the probe to protect VSR Ventures and interests of influential individuals who were investors in the firm.

The AAIB preliminary report was released on February 28, a month after a Learjet 45 aircraft owned by VSR Ventures crashed in Baramati on January 28, killing all five people on board, including then deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.

The DGCA has already said that both components of the aircraft’s black box — the flight data recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR) — sustained heat damage after the crash.

On Wednesday, Pawar questioned the claim, saying in three recent plane crashes – the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, the Tejas plane crash in Dubai, and another Learjet plane crash in the United States – black boxes stayed intact.

Displaying photos of the black box purportedly from the aircraft in which his uncle Ajit Pawar was travelling, he said, “From these images I am unable to make out if the black box was really damaged.”

Pawar questioned claims of the aircraft’s black box having been replaced in 2021, saying if it had indeed been replaced, it was likely equipped with the latest technology and could not have been damaged.

“There is another possibility – that the old black box was not replaced at all, which if revealed will put DGCA officials in trouble. So they are claiming that the black box has sustained damage,” he alleged, and said that numbers of the old and new models of black boxes should be verified with the manufacturing company, Honeywell, to resolve the matter.

Pawar also claimed that the AAIB report appeared to validate several of his earlier allegations, including the aircraft exceeding its permitted usage by 3,000 flying hours, low visibility in Baramati, excess refuelling, and Ajit Pawar’s unscheduled visit to Baramati that day.

‘VSR had risked Shinde’s life’

The NCP (SP) MLA made another sensational claim during his press conference on Wednesday. He alleged that in 2023, when Eknath Shinde was the chief minister, an aircraft operated by VSR Ventures in which he was travelling to Davos to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) could have been shot down while it was flying over Iran and Iraq.

“In international travel, a flight plan must be filed and prior permissions must be obtained from countries along the route. If an aircraft enters another country’s airspace without clearance, it can even be shot down. Something similar happened in the case of Eknath Shinde saheb,” Pawar claimed.

The NCP (SP) MLA said that the aircraft in which Shinde was travelling had entered Iranian airspace en route to Zurich without necessary permissions. After Iranian authorities warned that the plane would be shot down if it did not turn back, it entered Iraqi airspace, where it faced a similar situation.

“With fuel levels running low, the aircraft was diverted back to Bahrain,” Pawar said. “After three hours, all the required permissions were obtained and only then did the plane proceed to Zurich. That is why we say VSR cannot be trusted. Shinde saheb himself can provide more details,” Pawar said. He claimed that data was available in Bahrain to substantiate the claim, and wondered if the DGCA had released any official information regarding the matter.

Pawar termed VSR Ventures an “untrustworthy” company, and claimed that it had previously been banned for six months in the UAE for overcharging patients by selling private jet tickets during the COVID-19 pandemic.