25 February,2026 03:29 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Rohit Pawar, with other NCP (SP) MLAs, demands an FIR over Ajit Pawar’s plane crash at Marine Drive Police Station. PIC/X
Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) legislator Rohit Pawar on Wednesday made serious allegations against Union Civil Aviation Minister Rammohan Naidu and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), claiming that there was a deliberate attempt to shield "VSR Company", the operator of the aircraft involved in the fatal crash of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on January 28, news agency IANS reported.
Addressing reporters at the Vidhan Bhavan premises in Mumbai, Rohit Pawar, who is also Ajit Pawar's nephew, highlighted what he termed inconsistencies in the sequence of events and the nature of communications issued by the aviation regulator. He stated that while Ajit Pawar's body was at the hospital for post-mortem, the DGCA issued a preliminary report at 1.36 pm on the day of the crash.
According to him, the report mentioned that an audit of VSR Company carried out in February had found "no Level-1 safety deficiencies".
Rohit Pawar also criticised Naidu for issuing a statement on the same day, stating that there were no safety lapses in the VSR Learjet and effectively giving the pilot a clean chit even before the probe was completed.
"When our leader was lying in the hospital, the DGCA was busy trying to give a clean chit to the company. They claimed everything was fine, but the facts suggest otherwise," he said.
Referring to a later DGCA report which admitted to certain lapses, Rohit Pawar termed it a "minor success" but said it still allowed the company scope to escape full accountability.
He claimed that the special audit subsequently identified major deficiencies, including absence or improper documentation prior to the flight, breaches of standard safety protocols, and negligence in operational management.
"Because of your negligence, we lost a leader. He was the deputy chief minister, but in the hearts of the people, he was the chief minister. Maharashtra has lost a titan because of this carelessness," he added.
Rohit Pawar urged Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to step in and take cognisance of the matter. He further announced a state-wide legal action, stating that a complaint was being filed against the DGCA on Wednesday.
He said he would travel to Baramati and sit before the police inspector, and would not leave until an FIR was registered.
The NCP (SP) MLA appealed to citizens across Maharashtra to lodge FIRs in their respective districts to ensure that the issue is not buried. He also credited the public and the media for maintaining pressure on the authorities, which he said compelled the DGCA to acknowledge the technical shortcomings it had initially overlooked.
(With IANS inputs)
