Panic as Maharashtra minister Bhujbal's chopper lands a kilometre away from helipad, in parking lot, in Pune

The Pune district police said they had prepared a helipad, and the crew knew about it, but ignored it.

A helicopter hired by Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal landed at the wrong spot, in a parking lot, in Pune’s Purandar area on Saturday morning, a kilometre away from the assigned helipad.

Maharashtra food and civil supplies minister Chhagan Bhujbal said, "“My pilot landed wrongly in a parking lot. All of us are safe.” (HT File Photo)

The reason was not expressly clear, but the incident created a scare as it comes less than three months after deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar's death in a plane crash.

“My pilot landed wrongly in a parking lot. All of us are safe,” said Bhujbal, who had gone there to attend a programme on 200th birth anniversary of social activist Jyotiba Phule.

A senior officer of the Pune rural police said they will report the matter to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the pilot “will have to face action”.

No word was in yet from pilot, crew or the company that operated the chopper.

Whenever a helicopter is supposed to land in a certain area, the local public works department gives the latitude and longitude to the crew of chopper. The Pune district police said they had prepared a helipad, and the crew knew about it, but ignored it.

There was a huge cloud of dust when the chopper landed in the lot.

Scare after Ajit Pawar's death

The incident created panic as it comes barely 10 weeks after the January 28, 2026, crash of a Learjet 45 charter at the Baramati airport, killing deputy CM Ajit Pawar and all four others on board. CCTV footage captured the aircraft flipping and losing control before exploding.

Pawar, 66, was travelling to Baramati to attend a public rally ahead of the district council elections.

The investigation has since uncovered a series of systemic failures. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau's (AAIB) preliminary report flagged that the aircraft was cleared to land even though visibility at the time stood at just 3 kilometres — well below the 5,000-metre minimum required under Visual Flight Rules — and the airfield lacked proper navigation aids, a certified instrument landing system, or meteorological facilities.

The report also highlighted fading runway markings and loose gravel on the surface as contributing hazards.

The cockpit voice recorder, damaged in the post-crash fire, has been sent to the United States' National Transportation Safety Board for data recovery.

Operating company VSR Ventures' owner VK Singh has been questioned by police.