Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday announced that the Central Bureau of Investigation will investigate the plane crash that killed former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on January 28.
“I’ve spoken to Union Home Minister [Amit Shah] for a CBI inquiry,” Fadnavis said at a press conference. “That’ll be done.”
The Bharatiya Janata Party leader noted that there was a proposal from Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party requesting that the investigation into the crash be carried out by the central agency.
Ajit Pawar died when a small aircraft crashed near an airstrip in Baramati town during its second attempt to land after having initiated a go-around. Two pilots, a flight attendant and Ajit Pawar’s security officer were the others who died in the incident.
The cause of the crash was unclear. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, a unit of the civil aviation ministry, is investigating the incident.
On Sunday, Fadnavis described the crash as “unfortunate and shocking”, adding that everybody wanted to know what exactly led to the mishap.
The chief minister said that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the state Crime Investigation Department started an investigation immediately after the crash. “But now we have agreed to a CBI probe as demanded by the NCP,” Fadnavis.
Fadnavis said that the DGCA has initiated an audit of all the flights operated in recent years by VSR Ventures, which owned the aircraft that crashed. The chief minister said that he had also taken the same aircraft at least four to five times in the past.
Noting that these aircraft were foreign-made, the BJP leader added that help has been sought from overseas agencies to retrieve details.
Earlier, the Nationalist Congress Party had said that the crash “transcended” an ordinary accident, The Indian Express reported. It had said that a CBI inquiry would reinforce confidence in the investigation process.
Rohit Pawar, a legislator from the Nationalist Congress Party faction led by Sharad Pawar, had also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah, demanding the resignation of Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu until the inquiry concluded.
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