Mumbai, February 25 Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Chandra Pawar) MLA Rohit Pawar made serious allegations against Union Civil Aviation Minister Rammohan Naidu and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Wednesday, claiming that there was an active attempt to shield "VSR Company," the operator of the aircraft involved in the fatal crash of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on January 28.
Speaking to reporters at the Vidhan Bhavan premises here, Rohit Pawar, who is also the nephew of Ajit Pawar, pointed to what he described as inconsistencies in the investigative timeline and the nature of the reports issued by the aviation regulator. He said that while Ajit Pawar's body was at the hospital undergoing post-mortem, the DGCA released an initial report at 1:36 p.m. on the day of the accident.
According to him, the report stated that an audit of VSR Company conducted in February had found "no Level-1 safety deficiencies".
Rohit Pawar criticised Naidu for issuing a statement on the same day, asserting that there were no safety flaws in the VSR Learjet and effectively clearing the pilot before the investigation had concluded.
"When our leader was lying in the hospital, the DGCA was busy trying to give a clean chit to the company. They claimed everything was fine, but the facts suggest otherwise," he said.
Referring to a subsequent DGCA report that acknowledged several lapses, Rohit Pawar described it as only a "minor success" that still left room for the company to evade accountability.
He said that the special audit eventually found major deficiencies, including missing or improper documentation before flight, violations of standard safety procedures, and negligence in operational management.
"Because of your negligence, we lost a leader. He was the deputy chief minister, but in the hearts of the people, he was the chief minister. Maharashtra has lost a titan because of this carelessness," he added.
Rohit Pawar appealed to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to intervene in the matter. He also announced a state-wide legal push, saying a complaint was being filed against the DGCA on Wednesday.
He said he would travel to Baramati to meet with the police inspector and would not leave until an FIR was registered.
The NCP (SP) legislator urged citizens across Maharashtra to file FIRs in their respective regions so that the matter would not be suppressed. He credited the public and the media with keeping pressure on the administration and forcing the DGCA to acknowledge the technical flaws it had initially overlooked.