The last rites of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, killed in a plane crash, will be held with full state honours on Thursday in Baramati, Pune district.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are expected to attend the funeral, which will be held at Vidya Pratishthan ground at 11 a.m. Leaders cutting across the political spectrum will be present, the Nationalist Congress Party said. The plane crash occurred in the morning shortly after Ajit Pawar and four other persons took off from Mumbai.
Besides Pawar, his Personal Security Officer, an attendant, and two crew members (pilot in command and the first officer) were also killed. Pawar is survived by wife Sunetra, a member of the Rajya Sabha, and two sons, Parth and Jay. The state government declared a public holiday on Wednesday and announced a three-day period of state mourning.
Pawar, who headed the NCP, had taken off from Mumbai in the morning to address four rallies in the day in Pune district for the February 5 Zilla Parishad elections.
The others killed in the tragedy were Captain Sumit Kapoor, who had a flying experience of 15,000 hours, co-pilot Capt. Shambhavi Pathak with 1,500 hours of flying, Personal Security Officer (PSO) Vidip Jadhav and flight attendant Pinky Mali.
The government released a statement detailing the sequence of events that led to the crash and Pawar’s death.
The aircraft, a Learjet, was cleared for landing in Baramati after a go-around due to poor visibility, but having finally received a clearance, it did not give any read-back to the ATC, and moments later burst into flames on the edge of the runway.
