Baramati crash plane had flown Fadnavis, Shinde, Himanta during Bihar polls; was due in Patna hours later

The Learjet 45 operated by VSR Ventures had flown BJP leaders during the Bihar Assembly campaign and was scheduled for another charter the day it crashed, killing Ajit Pawar.

• Ajit Pawar and four others died in a Learjet 45 crash at Baramati airport
• The aircraft had previously ferried BJP leaders during Bihar Assembly elections
• DGCA investigates; owner asserts aircraft was fit, crew highly experienced.

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The chartered Learjet 45 that crashed at Baramati airport, killing Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others, had earlier been used to ferry BJP leaders during the Bihar Assembly election campaign, Patna airport sources told India Today.

The aircraft, operated by VSR Ventures, had flown several senior BJP leaders to Patna for election-related engagements, including Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, India Today reported.

According to Patna airport sources cited by India Today, the same aircraft had a packed schedule even on the day of the accident. On Wednesday, it was scheduled to arrive in Patna from Shamshabad airport with Andhra Pradesh-based businessman Mahesh Kumar Reddy, with a landing time of 10.30 am and a planned departure from Patna at 9.30 pm.

Following the Baramati crash, Reddy travelled to Patna on another chartered aircraft and left the city around 7.30 pm, India Today added.

VSR Ventures is owned by Muzaffarpur native Captain VK Singh.

Ajit Pawar, 66, popularly known as ‘Dada’, was killed when the Learjet 45 crashed while attempting to land at Baramati airport. The accident also claimed the lives of four others, two pilots, Pawar’s personal security officer and a flight attendant.

Pawar was travelling to his home turf to campaign for the upcoming Zilla Parishad elections when the aircraft went down, abruptly ending a political career that had shaped Maharashtra’s rural power structures and administrative machinery.

The owner of VSR Aviation said the aircraft was “absolutely fit” and rejected suggestions of a technical malfunction, even as aviation regulators launched a formal probe.

“The aircraft was absolutely fit to the best of our knowledge,” VK Singh said, adding that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) was investigating the crash and that the operator was cooperating fully. He said neither he nor others were present in the cockpit at the time of the incident.

According to Singh, the pilots first attempted a landing on runway 29 at Baramati, aborted the attempt and carried out a missed approach, before trying again on runway 11.

“Primarily, it appears that the pilot could not see the runway,” he said, attributing the decision to abort the first landing to low visibility.

Singh said missed approaches are standard procedure when pilots are not comfortable landing. “The pilot will carry out a missed approach in case he is not comfortable to land on the runway,” he said.

Defending the pilots, Singh said the aircraft was flown by highly experienced crew. Captain Sumit Kapoor had logged more than 16,000 flying hours and had previously worked with Sahara, Jetlite and Jet Airways, he said. The co-pilot had around 1,500 hours of experience.

Describing both as seasoned professionals, Singh said Kapoor was “a brother” to him, while the co-pilot was “like a daughter”.

Asked whether VSR Aviation would ground its Learjet 45 fleet, Singh said there was no basis for such a move.

“Why should I ground them? They are all fit aircraft,” he said, adding that the Learjet is a “very dependable aircraft” globally and that any grounding decision rests with regulators.

VSR Aviation operates seven Learjet 45 aircraft as part of its fleet.

The crashed aircraft, a Learjet 45 registered as VT-SSK, was manufactured in 2010. Its Certificate of Registration was issued in December 2022, while its Certificate of Airworthiness dates back to December 2021. Its Airworthiness Review Certificate was issued in September 2025 and is valid until September 2026.

Since new, the aircraft had logged about 4,915 flying hours and nearly 5,900 cycles. It was powered by TFE731-20BR engines.

The DGCA last audited the operator in February 2025 and reported no Level-I findings. Another Learjet 45 operated by the company was involved in a runway excursion at Mumbai airport in September 2023, an incident that remains under investigation by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau.