Remove minister till probe over: Rohit

Says aircraft owners being ‘shielded’ Mumbai : In more no-holds-barred revelations, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar claimed that efforts were on to ‘save’ the VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd company officials after the January 28 Baramati air-crash. He demanded the removal of Minister of Civil Aviation K. Rammohna Naidu till the investigations into the Learjet 45 aircraft are completed. Making a second presentation in a week, Rohit Pawar brought up issues pertaining to illegal...

min read

Says aircraft owners being ‘shielded’ Mumbai : In more no-holds-barred revelations, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar claimed that efforts were on to ‘save’ the VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd company officials after the January 28 Baramati air-crash. He demanded the removal of Minister of Civil Aviation K. Rammohna Naidu till the investigations into the Learjet 45 aircraft are completed. Making a second presentation in a week, Rohit Pawar brought up issues pertaining to illegal registrations, document tampering, insurance manipulations and video-evidence hinting at a potential deliberate act leading to the air-crash in which Nationalist Congress Party President and Deputy CM Ajit A. Pawar was among the five killed. “Several leaders of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) of Andhra Pradesh and former ministers from Maharashtra attended the wedding of VSRVPL owner V. K. Singh’s son Rohit Singh. The company is still operating flights and top politicians continue to use the Learjet planes. Instead of trolling me, the Bharatiya Janata Party should support my demand for a transparent probe,” Rohit Pawar said sharply. The NCP (SP) lawmaker alleged that the ill-fated Learjet was illegally registered in India with help of Directorate General of Civil Aviation officials. According to him, the plane was imported from the USA, owned by five others earlier, was worth barely Rs 10-15 cr., but deployed to ferry VIPs here. US Registration He referred to the sudden appearance of a US registration No. N80PQ’ on the plane’s wreckage after the crash which was not visible earlier, and contended that the aircraft was re-painted at home instead of authorized facilities which could cost Rs 3-4 cr. Rohit Pawar questioned the AAIB’s claim that the Black Box was burnt in the crash and quoting experts, emphasized that Digital Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder can withstand temperatures of up to 1,100 C for an hour. He wondered why the recorder was sent to Canada when India has a Rs. 90-cr lab capable of the analysis inaugurated last year. Building up pressure, Rohit Pawar contended that the crash may not be accidental, but the aircraft tilted before crashing as it may have been carrying extra fuel that made the explosion more severe and deadly for those on board. “Instead of turning back, the plane hit the ground directly. Why did it not fall on the runway but veered off to the side? The DGCA norms stipulated 5000 m visibility but the conditions at Baramati that day were around 3000 m. In such a situation, the flight should have aborted landing or returned to Mumbai as alternatives like Pune, Solapur or Sindhudurg may be technically unfeasible,” Rohit Pawar argued. Diving deeper, the Karjat-Jamkhed MLA questioned the insurance value of Rs 55 cr and liability coverage of Rs 210 crore for the aircraft allegedly worth just Rs 10-15 cr. He raised doubts on the pilots’ licensing claiming that the Captain Sumit Kapur and a company official allegedly illegally operated different types of aircraft without proper licenses. Flight Plan Alleging flight plan tinkering by a Mumbai-based handler named Gopi, Rohit Pawar demanded valid CCTV footage, emails and time-stamped data instead of just ‘paper added to paper’. Warning investigating officers against playing with the documents, he said “any discrepancy between official records and the video evidence” in his possession could lead to serious questions and repercussions. Rohit lauds aunt Sunetra Pawar Rohit Pawar welcomed the move by NCP leaders including his aunt and Deputy CM Sunetra A. Pawar, her son Parth, Sunil Tatkare, Praful Patel, Hasan Mushrif, seeking a CBI probe into the Baramati crash. He noted that they had included several issues raised by him in the letter to CM Devendra Fadnavis. On the political angle, he said there could be a couple of possibilities – speculation that the NCP (SP) would merge with the SP and join the NDA at the centre, or the SP and Ajit Pawar would quit the NDA; but certain forces were upset with either scenario unfolding.

India bears the brunt: Nifty crashes 1,100, Sensex nosedives 3,900 points after US trade shock

Correspondent
Apr 7, 2025
2 min read

India woke up to a financial jolt this morning as its equity markets suffered their steepest fall in nearly a year, shaken by the ripple effects of US President Donald Trump’s aggressive new tariff regime. The Sensex plunged over 3,900 points at opening bell, while the Nifty tumbled more than 1,100 points, dragging Indian stocks to a 10-month low.

This sharp decline follows a global equity rout triggered by Trump's protectionist measures, which have sent panic waves across Asia and raised the spectre of a global recession. Investors dumped shares in a massive sell-off, with Indian benchmarks reacting sharply in early trade. The Sensex dropped to 71,425.01 — down 3,939.68 points — while Nifty slipped to 21,743.65, marking a 3.5% slide from the last session.

Adding to the pressure, the Indian rupee depreciated 30 paise to open at 85.74 against the US dollar.

India Among the Hardest Hit

Trump’s latest tariff hike — framed as a push to restore fairness to global trade — has imposed country-specific duties that go as high as 50%. India has been slapped with a 26% tariff, while a 10% baseline duty applies to all nations. This has set alarm bells ringing among Indian exporters and traders already struggling with global demand volatility.

President Trump, unfazed by the financial carnage, likened the move to a bitter but necessary cure. “Sometimes you need the medicine to fix something,” he told reporters earlier today.

Analysts Urge Economic Safeguards

Market experts believe that India's current market turmoil isn't rooted in domestic issues but is rather a consequence of being tightly woven into global investment flows.

“India will face the heat, not due to domestic reasons, but as an interlinked chain in the global portfolio flows,” said Ajay Bagga, a noted market expert. “India will need a fiscal, monetary, and reform package to protect the domestic economy from this global economic winter that is threatening to settle in.”

Sunil Gurjar, SEBI-registered research analyst, warned that the Nifty50 index has breached its first support level and is approaching the next. "A further breakdown could worsen the trend and accelerate the fall," he cautioned.

Asian Markets Bleed

The tremors from Trump's announcement were first felt in Asia, with key markets suffering steep losses. China's stock markets fell over 4% amid retaliatory tariffs of 34% against the US. Hong Kong's Hang Seng nosedived more than 10%, while Japan’s Nikkei index fell 6.5% after plunging 8% earlier in the day. Taiwan saw a near-10% collapse, and Singapore dropped over 8%.

Wall Street Braces for Impact

US markets, though yet to open, appear set for a rough start. Futures contracts on the New York Stock Exchange are sharply down, suggesting heavy losses once trading resumes.

Market sentiment globally has turned bearish, with fears of a looming recession taking hold. Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management described the scene as “free-fall mode,” noting, “Trump’s team isn’t blinking. The tariffs are being treated as a victory lap, not a bargaining chip.”