Ajit Pawar cremated with full state honours in Baramati, thousands pay homage

Baramati: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who was killed in a plane crash, was cremated with full state honours on Thursday at Baramati in Pune district.

The last rites of the 66-year-old Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief were held at the Vidya Pratishthan ground, around 100 km from Pune. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Ramdas Athawale, former Union minister Sharad Pawar, BJP president Nitin Nabin, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde were among the dignitaries who attended the funeral.

Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar, a Rajya Sabha MP, their sons Parth and Jay, cousin and Baramati MP Supriya Sule, and NCP working president and former Union minister Praful Patel were also present. Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, former Union minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Andhra Pradesh minister Nara Lokesh were among other leaders who paid homage, reported PTI.

As Pawar’s mortal remains, draped in the national flag, were brought from his native village Katewadi to the funeral ground, thousands of mourners chanted “Ajit Dada amar rahe”. Several leaders placed floral wreaths on the body before Parth, and Jay lit the funeral pyre.

Earlier in the day, Pawar’s mortal remains were taken from Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Hospital in Baramati, where they had been kept overnight, to his village.

Ajit Pawar and four others were killed when their chartered aircraft crashed barely 200 metres from the edge of a tabletop airstrip. The other victims were Captain Sumit Kapoor, who had over 15,000 hours of flying experience, and co-pilot Capt. Shambhavi Pathak with 1,500 hours of experience, personal security officer Vidip Jadhav and flight attendant Pinky Mali. Their bodies have been handed over to their families, hospital authorities said.

Police have registered an accidental death report (ADR) in connection with the crash. The government on Wednesday released a statement outlining the sequence of events leading to the accident, stating that the aircraft had been cleared for landing after a go-around due to poor visibility, but failed to give a read-back to air traffic control before bursting into flames near the edge of the airstrip.

Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Ministry on Thursday confirmed that the Learjet’s “black box”, comprising the Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder, has been recovered.