Rohit Pawar sniffs a devious plot

Asks was there a sinister motive behind his uncle’s travel delay because of an NCP leader from East Vidarbha

Mumbai: A fortnight after the January 28 air-disaster that snuffed out Nationalist Congress Party President and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Anantrao Pawar, his nephew and Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MLA Rohit Rajendra Pawar raised haunting questions challenging the premise that the Baramati tragedy was a mere accident, and alleging sinister attempts to suppress facts, delayed investigations and shielding powerful interests.

In a detailed, ‘research presentation’ in Mumbai on Tuesday, Rohit R. Pawar made stunning revelations of the chain of events to allege that Ajit Pawar - who was originally planning to travel by road - may have been pushed by a set of circumstance into taking that ill-fated Learjet flight – resulting into what he suspected “a possible well-planned conspiracy”.

The startling presentation showed official documents, ATC records, papers of the VSRVPL, WhatsApp chats of government groups and the VSRVPL top brass, the alleged shady background of some pilots and directors, brief pilot exchanges, records of certain international agencies to buttress his claims, and the snail-paced probe that could give time to manipulate the case.

Altered Plan

The Karjat-Jamkhed MLA revealed that Ajit Pawar planned to travel by road that morning, but it was altered at the last minute due to some late-night events on Jan. 27.

“There was speculation on how much time Ajit Pawar would spend in Mumbai. So, was it already ‘decided’ that he would be compelled to take a hurried flight the next morning (Jan. 28)?” Rohit R. Pawar asked.

He also questioned how and why the pilot and co-pilot of the Learjet – owned by VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd.(VSRVPL) – were abruptly changed at the last moment and asked for a probe into this aspect.

He questioned why critical documents like the maintenance certificate of the VSRVPL aircraft, those responsible for carrying out the regular checks on the 16-year-old Learjet, and other records have not been made public yet.

“As per the official versions, after Ajit Pawar reached Mumbai airport at 7.50 am, the flight took at 8:10 am. Ajit Pawar was killed when the Learjet crashed between 8:43 and 8:45 am, just after it overflew Lonavala. But there was no MayDay Call, the transponder had allegedly been switched off, there was a deafening silence in the cockpit as the Push To Talk button was also off. Did the pilot deliberately crash it? All this will emerge only when the Black Box details are released,” asserted Rohit R. Pawar.

Urgent File

In another shocker, he said that Ajit Pawar’s road departure plans were foiled as he had to sign an urgent file from an East Vidarbha leader of the NCP who arrived late – whom he did not identify – prompting him to wonder: “Was there a sinister motive behind these ‘delays’ considering that Ajit Pawar was a stickler for punctuality?”

Rohit R. Pawar said that in his final days, Ajit Pawar had stopped using plastic bottles and drank water from a glass bottle that was entrusted with his close security guard – “Did Ajit Pawar sense something amiss?”

Showing the alarming video of the aircraft tilting dangerously seconds before it crashed with an explosion and a blaze, Rohit R. Pawar said this contradicted VSRVPL officials’ claims that low-visibility and fog may have caused the disaster.

“The same aircraft had flown to Surat (Gujarat) two days earlier, it was reportedly airworthy, yet its Stall Warning System that gives advance alert to the pilots of any impending disaster, was allegedly off, and questions remain over whether Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System  EGPWS) alert came at the low altitude or not,” said Rohit R. Pawar.

Five Questions

He posed five technical questions pertaining to the Learjet - the absence of tech-logs, airworthiness reports, hangar inside and outside CCTV footage, and heavy (base) maintenance records.

“Though 13-14 days have passed, there is no meaningful progress in the probe… This gives room for manipulating the evidence and the records,” contended the grand-nephew of NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar.

In this context, Rohit R Pawar demanded a professional international investigation by reputed French or US agencies, alongside Indian authorities. For effect, he cited an ex-Mossad Director Meir Dagan’s famed comment in a book - “Sometimes it’s most effective to kill the driver, and that’s that” – suggesting the easy way to execute top personalities, and demanded a probe into whether similar tactics were employed to eliminate Ajit Pawar.

Upon enquiries with the probe agencies, Rohit R. Pawar said he was told that the CCTV footage has been collected, but even that has not been examined transparently, and wondered what was the status of the other critical aspects of the investigation involving one of the most high-profile political VIPs in the country – “If Ajit Pawar was not safe, what about the ordinary people?”