The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has confirmed that the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) have been recovered from the site of the air crash in Baramati, Pune district, which killed Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others.
Officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), along with forensic teams, inspected the crash site earlier on Thursday.
Ajit Pawar (66), the longest-serving Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, was travelling to Baramati to attend a rally for the Zilla Parishad elections when his chartered aircraft crashed and went up in flames on Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, the Pune Rural Police have registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR) at the Baramati Taluka Police Station and initiated further investigation into the incident.
As per procedure, the ADR will be handed over to the Maharashtra Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which will conduct its probe based on the findings of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).
The AAIB, which functions under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, has already taken over the investigation into the crash.
“We have not yet received any formal orders. However, it is likely that the CID will receive the orders and conduct the probe into the ADR registered by the local police,” a CID official told PTI.
According to a government release, the Learjet aircraft had been cleared for landing at Baramati after executing a go-around due to poor visibility. However, after receiving final clearance, it failed to give any read-back to air traffic control (ATC) and moments later burst into flames near the edge of the runway.
