Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar passed away earlier this morning in a plane crash in Pune district. Officials confirmed that four other people on board also died.
The crash happened near Baramati as the aircraft, carrying the 66-year-old NCP leader, was attempting to land. According to flight tracking service Flight Radar, the plane departed from Mumbai at 8:10am, and disappeared from the radar at approximately 8:45am. Officials later confirmed the crash occurred around 8:50am.
Pawar was travelling from Mumbai to his political stronghold of Baramati, where he was scheduled to address public meetings as part of the campaign for the Zilla Parishad elections on February 5.
Eyewitnesses said the Learjet 45 (LJ45), a mid-size business jet aircraft produced by the Learjet Division of Bombardier Aerospace, appeared "a bit unstable in the air" just before it went down, and that the plane "exploded the moment it crashed on the ground". One person at the scene said the aircraft immediately "burst into flames" and it was followed by "four to five consecutive blasts".
Pawar is survived by wife Sunetra, a member of Rajya Sabha and two sons, Parth and Jay. His death is yet another addition to a tragic list of Indian leaders whose lives were cut short in aviation accidents.
Here are some of the prominent Indian political leaders who died in air crashes.
PLANE CRASHES
Sanjay Gandhi (1980): The son of former prime minister Indira Gandhi and an influential Congress leader, Sanjay Gandhi died when the Pitts S-2A plane he was flying crashed near Safdarjung Airport in Delhi.
Madhavrao Scindia (2001): A senior Congress leader and former Union minister, Scindia died when his chartered Cessna aircraft crashed in Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh, due to poor weather.
Vijay Rupani (2025): The former chief minister of Gujarat passed away last year in an Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad.
HELICOPTER CRASHES
G.M.C. Balayogi (2002): The 12th Speaker of the Lok Sabha passed away when his Bell 206 helicopter crashed into a pond in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh.
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- Will Parth Pawar take over NCP? What you need to know about Ajit Pawar's family
Cyprian Sangma (2004): Meghalaya’s minister for community and rural development died after his Pawan Hans helicopter crashed near Shillong.
O.P. Jindal and Surender Singh (2005): Haryana's power minister and industrialist O.P. Jindal, along with the state's agriculture minister Surender Singh, died in a helicopter crash in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy (2009): The incumbent chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, popularly known as YSR, died when his Bell 430 helicopter went down in the Nallamala Forest during a storm.
Dorjee Khandu (2011): The chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh died after his helicopter crashed in bad weather near the Sela Pass.