Baramati plane crash: Rohit Pawar fails in bid to file FIR against VSR; Supriya Sule demands Centre’s statement on 2 crashes

MUMBAI/PUNE: Alleging that Marine Drive police had refused to register a case he sought to file against VSR, Rohit Pawar said he would now get an FIR filed in Baramati on Thursday.

NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule also demanded on Wednesday that the Central govt should issue an official statement in Parliament when its session commences next week on the two recent plane crashes, one in which Ajit Pawar lost his life and another in Jharkhand where seven people died in an air ambulance crash on Tuesday.


Referring to the two crashes, she said, “Many families directly and indirectly have been devastated by the tragedies. Therefore, we want a thorough investigation and preventive measures to achieve accidentfree air travel.”

Sule appreciated the DGCA’s decision to ground four VSR Ventures jets and demanded strict action against officials who were responsible for non-compliance with the procedure which had led DGCA to ground the four planes.

Accompanied by party workers and NCP legislators including Amol Mitkari, Rohit Pawar approached Marine Drive police station saying he wanted to file the FIR against VSR and DGCA as the latter, he claimed, had attempted to give the airline a clean chit.

“A circular was issued by DGCA and accordingly, action was taken against five aircraft of VSR and they were grounded. Through that circular, it indirectly came to light that VSR was responsible. It is the responsibility of DGCA to check whether an aircraft is airworthy or not. After receiving the circular from the central govt in this regard, we tried to get an FIR filed,” Rohit said.

He alleged that the DGCA had tried to give a clean chit to VSR. “A report stating no Level 1 problem had been detected was the first attempt to save VSR,” he said, adding that action should also be taken against DGCA officials involved in the air crash investigation.

The Marine Drive police’s press note stated that in connection with the incident which was mentioned in Rohit’s complaint, an accidental death case has been registered at Baramati taluka police station on Jan 28. “Further detailed investigation of the case is being conducted by the State Crime Investigation Department (CID), Maharashtra state, Pune. Since the subject matter of the complaint application received today is also related to the above incident, the said complaint application is being forwarded to the state CID Pune for further action,” the police press note stated.