A Month After Crash Killed Ajit Pawar, 4 VSR Aviation Aircraft Grounded

The civil aviation regulator has ordered the grounding of four aircraft operated by VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd, a non-scheduled aircraft operator, following a special safety audit conducted after the Learjet 45 crash in Maharashtra's Baramati last month that resulted in the death of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others.

According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the multi-disciplinary safety audit observed "several non-compliances of approved procedures" within the organisation. The lapses were identified in the areas of airworthiness, air safety, and flight operations, the regulator noted.

"In view of the non-compliances observed and considering the gaps in maintenance procedures, it is decided to initiate corrective measures," the DGCA stated.

As an immediate step, the regulator ordered the grounding of four Learjet 40/45 aircraft operated by the company, registered as VT-VRA, VT-VRS, VT-VRV and VT-TRI, until "continued airworthiness standards are restored".

The DGCA also issued deficiency reporting forms to VSR Ventures, directing it to give a root cause analysis of non-compliances identified during the audit. The submissions will be assessed further by the regulator.

The Learjet 45, registered as VT-SSK, crashed on January 28 near Baramati airstrip while trying to land. The flight from Mumbai was carrying five people, including Ajit Pawar and his security personnel.

NCP MLA Rohit Pawar in a post on X said they have been raising the issue of VSR allegedly not following compliances and "operating aircraft in an extremely arbitrary and unsafe manner".

"Today, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has grounded four of VSR's aircraft on the very same issue of non-compliance. Although our struggle is beginning to see success, this is only the tip of the iceberg. There is still much more yet to come to light. I will speak in detail on this matter tomorrow morning," he said.

We have been repeatedly raising the issue that VSR company is not following any compliances and is operating aircraft in an extremely arbitrary and unsafe manner. Today, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has grounded four of VSR's aircraft on the very same issue of… pic.twitter.com/BDxc6TDXnb

— Rohit Pawar (@RRPSpeaks) February 24, 2026

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), tasked with the technical investigation, said both flight recorders - the digital flight data recorder (DFDR) and the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) - were exposed to intense heat and fire during the crash.

The DFDR data has been successfully downloaded at the AAIB's Flight Recorder Laboratory in India. The CVR, which records cockpit audio, was a lot more damaged.

To recover critical cockpit voice data, the AAIB sought specialised assistance from the accredited representative of the state of manufacture, effectively involving the United States' National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) under international aviation investigation protocols.

"There was absolutely no problem in the aircraft. There was no technical failure as far as we know," VSR Aviation owner VK Singh had said shortly after the crash, defending maintenance standards even as questions mounted about the sequence of events.