Ajit Pawar and the tragic list of high-profile persons lost in air crashes

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar died in a horrific plane crash in Pune district’s Baramati on Wednesday, adding to the tragic list of high-profile politicians and others in India and abroad who have lost their lives in aviation accidents.

The air accident involving Pawar brings to mind several high-profile Indians who have died in air crashes, including Y S Rajasekhara Reddy (2009), Madhavrao Scindia (2001), Sanjay Gandhi (1980) and Homi Bhabha (1966).

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The most recent victims are Vijay Rupani—the former Chief Minister of Gujarat, who was among the 241 victims of an Air India Boeing 787-8 crash in Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025—and General Bipin Rawat (2021), India’s first Chief of Defence Staff, who died in a helicopter crash near Coonoor, Tamil Nadu.

In India, the most talked-of crash, apart from the one that killed Congress’ original prince-in-waiting, Sanjay Gandhi, was the chopper crash involving Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. Reddy (60) and four others died when the state-owned helicopter Bell 430 crashed in the Nallamala Hills, throwing the state into political turmoil for months.

On July 9, 1994, Punjab Governor Surendra Nath, his wife Gargi Devi, and eight other family members died when a state government-owned Super King aircraft crashed in a mountainous region of Himachal Pradesh, minutes after take-off from Chandigarh. Other Indian politicians who lost their lives in air crashes include senior Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia, Lok Sabha Speaker GMC Balayogi, Haryana Power Minister OP Jindal and Agriculture Minister Surendra Singh, Arunachal Pradesh Education Minister Dera Natung, Meghalaya’s C Sangma, and BJP leader Soundarya.

Mohan Kumaramangalam, Minister of Steel in the Indira Gandhi government, was killed in a plane crash in New Delhi in 1973. Perhaps the first Indian political leader who did not survive an air crash was freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose, whose death continues to remain a mystery following the crash on August 18, 1945.

Global leaders lost in air crashes include Ebrahim Raisi (2024), Polish President Lech Kaczyn (2010) and Polish national hero Wladyslaw Sikorski (1943).

However, one of the most talked-about air mishaps in the Indian subcontinent is the one involving Pakistan’s General Zia-ul-Haq, which dramatically altered the political landscape of the country. On August 17, 1988, Zia and the top military brass of the country died when their Hercules aircraft crashed minutes after takeoff, killing everyone on board. Several theories, including some related to conspiracy angles, continue to circulate to date.