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Rohit Pawar said that a fair inquiry is unlikely in the case while the minister continues in office and claimed that the company is being protected.
NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar MLA Rohit Pawar. (PTI file photo)
Days after Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar died in a plane crash, NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar on Wednesday demanded that the removal of Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu from his post until the probe is completed.
Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, Rohit Pawar, who is the nephew of the late NCP leader Ajit Pawar, alleged that the minister and his Telugu Desam Party (TDP) have proven “friendly” relations with the owners of VSR Ventures, whose Learjet plane carrying his uncle crashed in Pune’s Baramati town last month.
The MLA further said that a fair inquiry is unlikely in the case while the minister continues in office and claimed that the company is being protected.
“Some former ministers from Maharashtra and top TDP ministers from Andhra Pradesh attended the marriage of Rohit Singh, son of the VSR owner VK Singh. The company is allowed to operate and top politicians are still using the Learjet planes of the company,” The NCP (SP) leader claimed.
Naidu should not continue as civil aviation minister on moral grounds, Rohit Pawar said.
There is not even a preliminary probe report yet, and there is reason to believe that efforts are being made to save the VSR company, he added.
NCP Demands CBI Probe
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader Sunetra Pawar on Tuesday met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and demanded a CBI probe into the January 28 air crash that killed Ajit Pawar.
Sunetra Pawar, accompanied by senior NCP leaders Sunil Tatkare, Praful Patel, Hassan Mushrif, and elder son Parth Pawar, met Fadnavis and handed over a letter seeking a CBI probe.
“Many issues that I raised have been included in the letter,” Rohit Pawar said.
The probe needs to be impartial and the report needs to be submitted to a committee which includes aviation experts, political leaders, he opined.
Ajit Pawar Death
NCP leader Ajit Pawar and four others were killed in a plane crash at Baramati in Pune district on January 28.
As the probe into the plane crash continues, the aircraft accident probe agency, AAIB, on Tuesday said that special support has been sought for the retrieval of data from the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) of the Learjet 45 plane involved in the fatal crash.
Rohit Pawar also said that if there was a political angle to the accident, it involved two possibilities: one, speculation that the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) might join the NDA after merging with the NCP; and two, that Ajit Pawar could quit the NDA following the merger.
(With agency inputs)
February 18, 2026, 13:49 IST
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