The Maharashtra Criminal Investigation Department (CID) will investigate the Accidental Death Report (ADR) registered in the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar plane crash case. The development comes after the Maharashtra police registered an ADR in connection with the plane crash that claimed the lives of Ajit Pawar and four others in Baramati in Pune district on Wednesday.
Confirming the filing of the ADR, a senior officer from Pune rural police told PTI, “We have registered an accidental death report (ADR) with the Baramati taluka police station.”
As per standard procedure, the ADR will be transferred to the Maharashtra Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which will carry out a probe based on the findings of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).
AAIB Probing The Crash
The AAIB, which operates under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, has already taken over the investigation into the aircraft crash.
A CID official told PTI that when an accident involves the death of a prominent public representative or influential figure, the investigation is conducted by the CID.
“We have not yet received any orders. However, it is likely that CID will receive the orders and will likely conduct the probe into the ADR registered with local police,” the official said.
Details Of The Plane Crash That Killed Pawar
Ajit Pawar (66) and four others were killed when a chartered aircraft crashed barely 200 metres from the edge of a tabletop runway at Baramati airport on Wednesday morning.
Pawar, who headed the NCP, had departed from Mumbai earlier in the day to address four rallies in Pune district ahead of the February 5 Zilla Parishad elections.
Those killed in the crash included Captain Sumit Kapoor, who had a flying experience of 15,000 hours; co-pilot Capt. Shambhavi Pathak, with 1,500 hours of flying; Personal Security Officer (PSO) Vidip Jadhav; and flight attendant Pinky Mali.
The government later released a statement outlining the sequence of events leading to the crash and Pawar’s death.
According to the statement, the Learjet aircraft was initially asked to go around due to poor visibility. After receiving clearance to land, the aircraft failed to provide any read-back to air traffic control and moments later burst into flames near the edge of the runway.