Pune:

Two former Air Force pilots and an engineer were killed after a helicopter belonging to a private aviation company crashed and caught fire near Pune city on Wednesday morning, police said. The chopper, belonging to Delhi-based Heritage Aviation, had been hired by the Nationalist Congress Party, said its Maharashtra unit chief and MP Sunil Tatkare. He had flown in the helicopter only a day before, and was supposed to travel by it again on Wednesday, he told the news agency PTI.

The chopper took off from Oxford County Golf Course helipad near Pune and was heading to Juhu in Mumbai when it crashed at 7.40 am, police said.

The crash took place near a hilly terrain in Bavdhan area, close to the golf course and some 25 km from Pune city, police said.

The victims were identified as pilot Paramjeet Singh (62), co-pilot G K Pillai (57), both retired from the Indian Air Force; and aircraft maintenance engineer Pritam Kumar Bhardwaj (53), police said.

An official from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said the incident took place at 7.40 am. It was an Agusta 109 helicopter belonging to Heritage Aviation, he confirmed.

After the crash, the chopper caught fire, police said, adding that fire tenders and water tankers were rushed to the spot.

The helicopter had taken off from the helipad of Oxford County Golf Course around 7.30 am, Pimpri Chinchwad Joint Commissioner of Police Shashikant Mahavarkar said.

Primary information suggested fog led to the accident but a detailed investigation will ascertain the exact cause, he added.

Speaking to PTI over phone, NCP MP Tatkare said the incident was unfortunate.

“I am deeply saddened by the incident. The helicopter was hired by our party, and on Tuesday, I had flown in it to Parli in Beed district. Today, I was supposed to fly from Mumbai to Raigad (his constituency) in the same helicopter,” he said.

On August 24, a private helicopter flying from Mumbai to Hyderabad had crashed in Paud area near Pune, but its occupants survived.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Mumbai:

After days of hectic discussions, the Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra, comprising the BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar’s NCP, has made more headway in their seat-share talks.

The NDA partners have finalised the four seats from where Ajit Pawar will field its contestants, sources told NDTV. Mr Pawar is bargaining for more seats in the state, they added.

According to talks so far, Sharad Pawar’s nephew, the leader of the “real” NCP, will field candidates from Baramati, Raigarh, Shirur, and Parbhani, and the BJP will get 31 seats, while the Shiv Sena will contest 13.

Baramati is the Pawars bastion. For decades, the political family has fought from the seat and won. However, this year will see a contest between family members after a shock rebellion by Ajit Pawar split the party and its supporters. 

The sitting MP from Baramati and Ajit Pawar’s cousin, Supriya Sule, will likely face off with her sister-in-law and Mr Pawar’s wife, Sunetra Pawar.

Ajit Pawar has fielded NCP’s Maharashtra president and sitting MP Sunil Tatkare to defend Raigarh against Anant Geete, who will likely be named to contest from this constituency by Uddhav Thackeray’s Sena. Mr Geete had earlier served as a Union Minister in PM Narendra Modi’s first term.

In Shirur, the NCP may field Pradeep Kand or Adhalrao Patil. Both leaders are not a part of the party. While Mr Patil, a former Shiv Sena MP, was appointed as the chief of the MHADA last month by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Mr Kand is the chief of a district cooperative bank in Pune.

The NCP will likely field Rajesh Vitekar against Sanjay Haribhau Jadhav – Parbhani’s sitting MP and a leader from the Uddhav Thackeray camp. Mr Vitekar is the president of the Parbhani Zilla Parishad.

In the seat-sharing talks so far, 31 of the state’s 48 seats will be contested by the BJP, 13 by Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and four by Ajit Pawar’s NCP.