MUMBAI: The mystery over the Ajit Pawar aircraft crash incident has deepened as NCP SP MLA Rohit Pawar on Wednesday presented additional supporting documents and evidence about the sabotage angle of the investigation.
Rohit Pawar also said that for a fair and transparent inquiry, Union Civil Aviation Minister and Telugu Desam Party leader K Rammohan Naidu should be removed from his position until the inquiry is completed.
Rohit Pawar alleged that the aviation minister and his party had close relations with the owners of VSR Ventures, which operated the crashed aircraft. He added that the nexus could be a hindrance in a fair probe into the incident.
He said as long as the minister remains in the chair, they cannot expect a fair lead in this high-profile case.
“We demand that a high-level monitoring committee should be constituted, and this committee should include former bureaucrats, former judges, the Lok Sabha’s leader of opposition and family members. Probe should be monitored by this committee,” the NCP SP leader stated in his PowerPoint presentation.
He also said that the criminal investigation should be carried out in Ajit Pawar plane crash.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Sunetra Pawar has also demanded a CBI inquiry into the plane crash involving her husband.
Notably, Ms Pawar, along with her son and party leaders, also met CM Devendra Fadnavis in this regard.
Bolstering his claim, Rohit Pawar said, it was also in the public domain that a senior TDP leader attended the wedding of VSR’s owner’s son in Rajasthan a year ago. He said a private jet of a minister from Andhra Pradesh is also run by the VSR company.
Rohit Pawar said that while the black box of the aircraft that carried Ajit Pawar was in bad shape due to heat, as per the civil aviation ministry, experts note that the black box cannot be destroyed in high heat.
He said that according to experts, there are chances of the black box being damaged only if the temperature remains at 1100°C for an hour.
“But in the crash incident, the place of the black box in the aircraft was not damaged and was far away from the high heat. How come the authority claims that the black box got damaged? This is nothing but a lame excuse given by the authorities,” Rohit Pawar alleged.
He also said DGCA has issued the airworthiness certificate to VSR firm’s aircraft on September 16, 2021, and the certificate of registration is dated December 27, 2022.
He said that the aircraft was purchased from the USA, and it had exhausted 'Time Before Overhauling'.
"Time Before Overhauling means that the engine's life ended despite the fact that it had registered in India. A few of the DGCA officers helped them to get it done, it is illegal in India," he said.
"The aircraft that killed Ajit Pawar was old, and it had been transferred from five different owners and should have been scrapped or disbanded due to its outdated engine and other structures, but surprisingly, the same aircraft was given to VIP services," Rohit claimed.
He questioned that while any normal aircraft has a capacity of recording the last two hours of conversions, how come the crashed aircraft had only 30 minutes recording facility.
"Besides, India has got high tech lab to probe the black box, but surprisingly, it had been sent to Canada. It has been more than 20 days since this incident, but there is no tangible progress in the probe. Initially, crucial days were wasted by delaying the probe and showing non-seriousness,” Rohit said.
He said that when the aircraft left Mumbai, it had additional fuel abundant enough to come back from Baramati. But the pilot, rather than coming back, allegedly hit the ground near Baramati airstrip and the explosion that followed killed Ajit Pawar.
He alleged that this was a deliberate act to kill Ajit Pawar.
Ajit Pawar, along with the pilot, copilot, crew member and security guard, was killed in an aircraft accident near Baramati on January 28.