Amidst family and followers gathered in huge numbers, the mortal remains of Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister, Ajit Pawar, will be carried in a decorated ‘rath’ today for his funeral.
Pawar’s last rites are scheduled to take place at 11 am at the Vidya Pratishthan Ground, and will be preceded by a procession that starts from the Vidya Pratishthan campus (Gadima) in Baramati at 9 am. It will pass through the city for people to pay their respects to Maharashtra’s longest-serving Deputy CM (non-consecutively).
The chariot carrying his mortal remains is adorned with flowers, features Pawar’s image and a board reading ‘Swargiya Ajitdada Pawar amar rahein’ (Long live Ajit Dada Pawar). Crowds of party workers and supporters had gathered outside Ahilyabai Holkar Hospital in Baramati, where Pawar’s mortal remains were kept before being taken to his residence.
The government released a statement detailing the sequence of events that led to the crash and Pawar’s death along with four others on board. The police have also registered an accidental death report (ADR) case in connection with the plane crash in Baramati, district Pune, yesterday, an official said.
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Pawar, 66, and four other persons on board a chartered Learjet aircraft were killed after it crashed barely 200 metres from the edge of a tabletop runway at the Baramati airport in the morning.
“We have registered an accidental death report (ADR) with the Baramati taluka police station,” confirmed a senior police officer from the Pune rural police.
As per procedure, the ADR will be handed over to the Maharashtra Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which will conduct a probe based on findings of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB)’s inquiry.
The AAIB, which functions under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, has already taken over the probe into the crash. A CID official said that in case of the death of an influential public representative or figure in an accident, the probe is carried out 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,” he explained.
Pawar, who headed the NCP, had taken off from Mumbai in the morning to address four rallies in the day in Pune for the February 5 Zilla Parishad elections.
The government report says his aircraft was cleared for landing in Baramati after a go-around due to poor visibility, but having finally received a clearance, it did not give any read-back to the ATC, and moments later burst into flames on the edge of the runway.
The others killed in the tragedy were 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.
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