Maharashtra Deputy CM Sunetra Pawar is likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a request to thoroughly investigate the January 28 air crash that killed the late Ajit Pawar, sources said.
Ajit Pawar-led NCP MLAs also met Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis late Thursday evening to discuss several errors in the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s (AAIB) 22-page preliminary report, which was released last week.
It is also learnt that the late Ajit Pawar’s family, including Deputy CM Sunetra Pawar, her elder son Parth Pawar and younger son Jai Pawar, seem to suspect that the January 28 air crash was not a mere accident, but a murder.
Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar-led NCP’s working president and Rajya Sabha MP Supriya Sule has also demanded a transparent investigation into the late Ajit Pawar’s accident. She said that all people who love Ajit Pawar are upset after his accident and demanded a “transparent investigation” into the case.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Criminal Investigation Department (CID) stated on Thursday that it has recorded the statement of VK Singh, who is known to be a top official of VSR Ventures, the New Delhi-based air charter company whose ill-fated aircraft flew late Deputy CM Ajit Pawar on January 28 from Mumbai airport to the Baramati airstrip.
A CID official confirmed that VK Singh was being questioned as part of the investigation, adding that no further details could be shared.
In a related development, Vikas Lawande, a spokesperson and organising secretary of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, tweeted from his official X handle stating that the late Ajit Pawar’s air crash was a well-planned “murder”, since he was “a big political obstacle for someone”.
“Considering the role of the government and the investigating agencies, I am of the firm opinion that the murder of respected Ajit Dada was well-planned. Efforts are being made from the highest levels to suppress this case because Ajit Dada must have become a big political obstacle for someone. If we examine history, we will find that many cases have been suppressed,” Lawande stated in his tweet in Marathi, which has gone viral on social media.