Amit Shah to attend Ajit Pawar's funeral in Baramati

The last rites of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, killed in a plane crash, will be held with full state honours on Thursday at Baramati in Pune district.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be among the leaders present at the funeral, his Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) said.

The last rites of Pawar (66) would be performed at the sports ground of Vidya Pratishthan in Baramati in Pune district around 11 am. Pawar was killed on Wednesday morning after the chartered Learjet crashed near the Baramati airstrip, around 100 km from Pune.

Two pilots, a flight attendant and a personal security officer were also killed in the accident.

On Thursday morning, the mortal remains of Ajit Pawar were taken from the Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Hospital in Baramati, where they were kept overnight, to his Katewadi village near Baramati. The funeral procession will begin at 9 am.

Shiv Sena-UBT leaders Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aaditya Thackeray on Thursday met the Pawar family at their residence in Baramati.

On Wednesday, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy CM Eknath Shinde visited the hospital and spoke to Ajit Pawar's family members.

Police have registered an accidental death report (ADR) case in connection with the plane crash, an official said.

Pawar and four other persons on board the aircraft were killed after it crashed barely 200 metres from the edge of a tabletop runway at Baramati.

As per procedure, the ADR will be handed over to the Maharashtra Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which will conduct a probe based on findings of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB)'s inquiry.

The AAIB, which functions under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, has already taken over the probe into the crash.

A CID official told PTI that in case of the death of an influential public representative or figure in an accident, the probe is carried out by the CID.

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. Their mortal remains have been handed over to their families, hospital sources said.

The government Thursday released a statement detailing the sequence of events that led to the crash and Pawar's death.

The aircraft 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 near the edge of the airstrip.