Rohit Pawar raises doubts over black box damage

Claiming that the probe was moving “too slow”, Rohit said the doubts he had raised earlier were turning out to be true. “The investigation is progressing slowly. VSR Ventures continues its operations as usual, and as I had predicted, various reasons are being cited that could delay the probe,” he said, referring to reports that the aircraft’s two independent flight recorders were damaged in the crash

Mumbai: Hours before the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) formally sought a CBI probe into the plane crash that killed its former president, Ajit Pawar, NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar alleged that the investigation was not progressing as expected and hinted at fresh revelations on Wednesday.

NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar (PTI)

Claiming that the probe was moving “too slow”, Rohit said the doubts he had raised earlier were turning out to be true. “The investigation is progressing slowly. VSR Ventures continues its operations as usual, and as I had predicted, various reasons are being cited that could delay the probe,” he said, referring to reports that the aircraft’s two independent flight recorders were damaged in the crash.

He also commented on the news reports that the black box of the aircraft was damaged. “Black box is safe from summer, monsoon, winter and bomb blast but not from politics,” he remarked.

Rohit has consistently questioned the circumstances surrounding the January 28 crash in Baramati that claimed the lives of Ajit Pawar and four others. He has raised concerns over the maintenance practices of VSR Ventures, which owned the Learjet 45 aircraft, the pilot’s alleged drinking habits and certain last-minute operational decisions that he suggested could have contributed to the accident.

He has announced that he will make further revelations at a press conference on Wednesday.