Caught on CCTV: Harrowing moments when Ajit Pawar's plane crashed and burst into flames; AAIB to probe accident

Ajit Pawar Dies: A CCTV footage has revealed the exact details of the crash of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's chartered aircraft at Baramati Airport.

It was 8.46:02 on Wednesday morning when a fireball accompanied by a cloud of smoke was caught on a CCTV feed from a highway near the airport in Maharashtra's Baramati.

The video is of the plane carrying Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others that just crashed.

The private charter plane operated by VSR Ventures Pvt. Ltd, had left Mumbai at 8.10 am and crashed while trying to land at the airport.

“On 28.01.2026, M/s VSR Ventures Pvt. Ltd, Learjet 45 aircraft, with registration VT-SSK was involved in an air accident at Baramati while operating a flight for sector “Mumbai-Baramati”. There were a total of 05 persons on board including 02 crew members. The passengers included Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra Shri Ajit Pawar. All the occupants of the aircrafts received fatal injuries,” said a government statement on the incident.

Data from Flightradar24 said the plane blipped off radar at 8.45 am and that it was attempting a second landing when it crashed; an eyewitness said it crashed 100 feet before the runway.

The Learjet 45, which can carry as many as nine passengers, stopped broadcasting at 8.34 am, resumed minutes later, and then, at 8.43 am, went silent again, according to a report in NDTV. The place where the jet stopped signalling for the second time is around 20 km from the airport at which it was to land, the report said.

Born in 1959, Ajit Anantrao Pawar was a senior politician and a prominent leader in Maharashtra. Pawar served as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, a position he has held multiple times. A senior leader originally from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), he aligned with the BJP-Shiv Sena government in 2023 after defecting from the NCP faction led by his uncle, the veteran NCP leader Sharad Pawar.

“AAIB has taken over the investigation, DG, AAIB is reaching the accident site for investigation. Further details of the same as and when available will be shared,” the government statement said.

A special team of the AAIB will investigate the aircraft crash. During the course of the investigation, the probe team will retrieve the flight recorder, Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) and Digital Engine Electronic System (DEES).