More Criticism From Rohit Pawar After Probe Report On Ajit Pawar Plane Crash

Rohit Pawar, grandson of veteran political leader Sharad Pawar and MLA of his faction of the Nationalist Congress Party, has continued his criticism of the investigation into the VSR aircraft accident in which his uncle, former Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar, died. 

In his first press conference after the release of the preliminary report by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau or AAIB, Rohit Pawar spoke of the political and corporate nexus safeguarding the VSR and doubled down on the possible procedural flaws in the investigation. 

Allegation 1: Serious Errors and Omissions in DGCA Report

"I am not against VSR or DGCA. But VSR's plane was involved in the accident and DGCA is the investigative arm. We are not targeting anyone unnecessarily, someone is trying to save them," he told reporters today.

Questioning the credibility of the DGCA report, pointing to typographical and factual errors. He cited references in the report to "Baramati district" and "Baramati Municipal Corporation" as examples of what he called a lack of seriousness.

He also alleged that the aircraft's movement before the crash was wrongly mentioned and that unlike the 2023 Mumbai VSR accident report, the present report does not mention the name of the investigating officer.

Allegation 2: Flight Logs, Fuel Load and Procedural Violations

Pawar alleged discrepancies in the aircraft's logging records, claiming that the flight's timespan was under-logged. 

"Planes are usually under-logged for financial reasons," he said, pointing out that the Journey Log Book maintained by the pilot should be cross-verified with airport authority and VSR records.

He also raised concern about the mandatory Breath Analysis test of the pilot. Citing AAIB norms, he said such tests must be conducted at designated locations, but the report states it was conducted inside the airport premises.

He further questioned how take-off was permitted if visibility was allegedly low, claiming that a representative of the Arrow company had confirmed that visibility was adequate while the report states otherwise.

Allegation 2: Black Box Documentation and Missing Flight Data

Rohit Pawar questioned the absence of a black box image in the report, saying such documentation has been included in other crash investigations. He displayed examples from past air accidents to argue that black box data remains retrievable even after severe crashes.

He also alleged that flight history of the aircraft used by Ajit Pawar and other dignitaries has been wiped from tracker applications.

Referring to the 2018 Ghatkopar plane crash, Pawar said a First Information Report had been filed against company officials at the time and questioned why similar action is not being allowed in the present case.