Mumbai | Pune : Baramati Taluka Police on Thursday refused NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar’s demand to file an FIR over the plane crash that killed former Deputy CM Ajit Pawar in January. Rohit Pawar was accompanied by his cousin Yugendra Pawar and their supporters as they approached Baramati Police. Even after one-and-a-half hours of heated discussion, police officials did not agree to file an FIR but only accepted a written complaint. Rohit Pawar had a similar experience at Marine Drive Police Station on Wednesday. What happened Outside the station house in Baramati, an agitated Rohit Pawar said the police maintained that the CID, AAIB and DGCA were already investigating the crash. “The police have transferred their accidental death report case to the CID, which is probing it now. Our demand is to register a case against the officials of DGCA, the Learjet owners VSR Ventures Pvt. Ltd., and also the handler, Arrow Aviation Services, for giving false information on the prevailing weather conditions at Baramati that day. However, the police have not lodged the FIR,” alleged Rohit Pawar. He argued that the AAIB will confine itself to the technical aspects of the crash and would not examine the alleged criminal angles leading to the tragedy. “We raised the DGCA’s (Tuesday) report grounding five Learjets of VSRVPL for non-compliance with approved procedures pertaining to airworthiness, air safety and flight operations. If there were issues with the aircraft, then why was it chartered to Ajit Pawar?” Rohit Pawar asked. The Jamkhed–Karjat MLA reiterated his demand for the resignation of Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu until the probe into the Baramati disaster is completed. Supporters join the Pawars Over a hundred lawyers and senior members of the local Bar Association, plus a large number of Pawar supporters, trooped to the Baramati Taluka police station, raising slogans and demanding justice for Ajit Pawar as Rohit and Yugendra arrived. Rohit Pawar claimed that despite answering all police queries and asserting their legal rights, officers remained unmoved. “Some of the police officials had become emotional; we noticed that they were ready to cooperate but were under some pressure from outside,” he alleged. Yugendra Pawar joins clamour Backing Rohit Pawar, Yugendra Pawar demanded that the police must register an FIR against VSRVPL, and expressed confidence that the Baramati Police would ‘give us justice 100 percent’. “A large number of admirers of Ajit Pawar have spontaneously arrived here and it is the demand of the masses to file the FIR, take proper action against those concerned and ensure justice for our great leader whom we lost in the air crash,” Yugendra Pawar said. Among the crowd, many raised concerns about how ‘certain forces’ were allegedly blocking the FIR They had suspicions of a possible conspiracy. CID investigation The Pune-headquartered Crime Investigation Department (CID) on Thursday said that it was probing multiple angles, including criminal conspiracy, criminal negligence and illegal omissions behind the Jan. 28 Baramati air-crash. “The Baramati Taluka Police have registered an ADR (No. 11/2026), under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. We are investigating different angles, including a criminal conspiracy, criminal negligence or rash act and criminal illegal omissions to determine whether it was an accident or a plot,” Additional Director General of Police, CID, Sunil Ramanand told mediapersons. “The probe is underway at the right pace and proceeding in the right direction… The investigations are being done most professionally. We have a big team and are taking help from various other agencies,” he said. He added that when AAIB releases its report, it will be ‘factored in’ for the CID probe. “Our focus is solely on the criminal aspects. Certain aspects have come to our notice… and more may emerge as the probe progresses,” said Ramanand.
Comments