- Privately operated plane was travelling from Mumbai to Baramati.
- Video shows smoke rising from scattered wreckage in an open field.
- Incident adds to string of recent aviation tragedies in India.
The deputy chief minister of India’s Maharashtra died in a plane crash on Wednesday morning along with four others, NDTV reported.
The plane carrying Ajit Pawar, Nationalist Congress Party chief, was traveling from Mumbai and attempted an emergency landing in his family stronghold of Baramati, 250 km (155 miles) away, where he was scheduled to campaign in the elections
With four others on board, the deputy chief minister was travelling in a privately operated chartered plane, according to Indian media reports.
Pawar’s personal security officer and an assistant were also on board along with two crew members at the time of the crash, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in a statement.
Video showed billows of smoke rising from some of the burning wreckage of the plane, scattered across an open field.
Others who died in the crash were identified as pilots, Sumit Kapur and Shambhavi Pathak, and politician’s security staffer Vidhit Jadhav.
VK Singh, the director of VSR Ventures, told broadcaster India Today that the plane crashed during its approach to the city of Baramati, but the cause was not clear.
“The aircraft is 100% safe,” Singh said and added, “The crew was fairly experienced.”
“The aircraft crashed at the threshold of Runway 11 at 08:48am (IST) and burst into flames. There are no survivors,” Hindustan Times reported, quoting a Mumbai airport official.
Pawar backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party in the state government, leading a faction that split in 2023 from the opposition Nationalist Congress Party.
In a post on X, Modi said Pawar’s death was “shocking and saddening”.
The incident adds to a string of recent aviation tragedies in India. On June 12 last year, Air India Flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashed just 30 seconds after taking off from Ahmedabad, claiming 260 lives and leaving only one survivor.
In another case, in November 2025, an Indian Air Force (IAF) HAL Tejas fighter jet went down during an aerial display at the Dubai Air Show, killing the pilot. The aircraft crashed while performing a manoeuvre for spectators at Al Maktoum International Airport.
