Prateek Tanmay
3 min readPuneMay 29, 2026 10:16 PM IST
Rohit Pawar, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MLA who has been demanding a thorough probe into the January 28 Baramati aircraft crash in which his uncle and then Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was killed, arrived at the office of the Maharashtra Criminal Investigation Department (CID) carrying a lock and warned that he would lock the office next time if the investigation was not progressing in the right direction.
A Learjet 45 aircraft, with registration VT-SSK operated by VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd was involved in an air accident at Baramati while operating a flight for sector Mumbai to Baramati on the morning of January 28. The crash has been investigated by the Aircraft Accident Investigation (AAIB) of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA). On February 28, the AAIB submitted its preliminary report about the accident. Meanwhile the Maharashtra CID is conducting an inquiry into a case of Accidental Deaths Report (ADR) that has been registered with Pune Rural Police as a procedure after any accident that involves fatalities.
Rohit, who has been seeking a thorough investigation into the case, had filed a ‘Zero FIR’ with the High Grounds Police Station in Bangalore under section 173(1) of Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita. The case was subsequently transferred to Pune Rural police and the Maharashtra CID has said that it has considered the FIR in its probe.
On Friday, four months after the accident, Rohit went to the CID office carrying a lock. “We will closely observe the pace and direction of the probe. We have come with a lock today, but we decided not to use it. We will discuss with officials and keep taking follow up about the progress in the probe. And if the CID is not doing its job, we will lock the CID office. Anyway the Prime Minister has asked us to cut down on expenditure.” Rohit also alleged that CID officers gave evasive answers to his questions about the progress in the probe.
After his visit, the CID issued a statement, “Rohit Pawar, Member of the Legislative Assembly from the Karjat-Jamkhed constituency, visited the CID Maharashtra State office in Pune on May 29 and raised certain points regarding the aircraft accident involving Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. These points will be incorporated into the ongoing investigation. The issues raised by Mr Rohit Pawar on previous occasions have also been examined during the course of the investigation. The investigation is progressing in the proper direction and at an appropriate pace. The purpose of the investigation is to determine whether any elements such as criminal conspiracy, negligent conduct, illegal omission — failure to perform an act mandated by law, or sabotage are involved in the incident. In connection with the investigation, the Criminal Investigation Department is in continuous contact with various agencies such as AAIB, DGCA, and FSL, and is following up on the reports required for the investigation.”
