From Sanjay Gandhi To Ajit Pawar: Indian Leaders Lost To Aviation Accidents

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was killed after an aircraft carrying him crashed in Pune's Baramati on Tuesday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) confirmed.

The plane, with four other people on board, went down while attempting an emergency landing near the Baramati airport and caught fire upon impact. A thick smoke billowed from the wreckage at the crash site.

The NCP Chief had departed Mumbai around 8 am and was scheduled to address four election rallies in Baramati ahead of the local body polls.

Here is a look at some prominent figures who died in similar tragedies:

Sanjay Gandhi (1980)

Sanjay Gandhi, son of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and a powerful figure during the Emergency era, died in a plane crash in Delhi on June 23, 1980. He was 33. The two-seater aircraft he was piloting crashed during a test flight near Safdarjung Airport.

Madhavrao Scindia (2001)

Veteran Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia, a member of the Gwalior royal family and father of Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, was killed on September 30, 2001.

The chartered aircraft carrying him crashed in Uttar Pradesh's Mainpuri district while he was travelling to address a political rally. All passengers on board were killed.

Vijay Rupani (2025)

Former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani was among the 241 people killed in the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crash, minutes after takeoff from Ahmedabad. The London Gatwick-bound flight fell on a medical college hostel complex and caught fire.

GMC Balayogi (2002)

Ganti Mohana Chandra Balayogi, then Speaker of the Lok Sabha and a senior Telugu Desam Party leader, died in a helicopter crash on March 3, 2002, in Andhra Pradesh's West Godavari district. Reports said the chopper had a technical failure mid-air.

Dorjee Khandu (2011)

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu died when a Pawan Hans helicopter crashed in a remote mountainous region near the India-China border on April 30, 2011. The wreckage was located five days later after an extensive search operation.

YS Rajasekhara Reddy (2009)

YS Rajasekhara Reddy, widely known as YSR and then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, died in a helicopter crash in the Nallamala Hills on September 2, 2009. The crash site was traced a day later following a large-scale search.

OP Jindal and Surender Singh (2005)

Industrialist and Haryana Power Minister OP Jindal, along with former Union Minister Surender Singh, son of ex-President Shankar Dayal Sharma, were killed in a helicopter crash in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, on March 31, 2005.

Gurnam Singh (1973)

Former Punjab Chief Minister Gurnam Singh is reported to have died in a plane crash in Delhi on May 31, 1973.