Rohit Pawar registered this Zero FIR in Bangalore, stating a much bigger plot was behind the crash of former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on January 28. Filed at the High Grounds police station on March 23, the FIR asks for a criminal investigation which goes further than the technical investigation. It accuses many people of intentionally doing things wrong and having ongoing, widespread safety problems.
Why a Zero FIR was filed and the legal route
A Zero FIR allows police to record a serious crime, no matter where it happened, so they can start taking action immediately. Pawar says he went to police in Baramati and Marine Drive but they wouldn’
t file a complaint. He then went to Bangalore police because the Pune CID only did a report about how Ajit Pawar died by accident.
Allegations and sections invoked in the complaint
The complaint uses sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (the Indian criminal code) and accuses people of conspiring to commit a crime, murder, causing death when they shouldn’t have, and other serious crimes. Rohit Pawar wants a full criminal investigation instead of just the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) doing a limited technical examination.
The sections of the BNS listed in the FIR include conspiracy, murder, causing death when they shouldn’t have, causing death through carelessness, putting lives in danger, hiding evidence and forgery. These accusations mean the complaint wants the crash to be looked at as a possible criminal act, and not just an aviation accident.
Aircraft maintenance, hours and safety audit concerns
Rohit Pawar says records were deliberately changed, procedures weren’t followed and evidence was hidden. He believes the information available shows repeated and obvious failures that directly caused the crash, and he wants the police to investigate these as crimes.
The plane in question is VT-SSK. Pawar says it had flown for around 4,915 hours, 85 hours short of the 5,000-hour limit for how long the engine should be used before being completely checked. The FIR says VSR Company said the plane had flown fewer hours than it had, and the whole plane might have actually flown over 8,000 hours.
Operational anomalies, visibility and crew fitness issues
The complaint mentions a safety inspection by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on February 24. This inspection found some planes flown by VSR weren’t safe to fly and should have been grounded. Pawar says these planes were still used for flights, which he claims put passengers and crew in danger and shows extreme carelessness.
Rohit Pawar points out problems with how the weather was judged and the decision about which runway to use. The FIR says a flying school recorded that visibility was 3,000 meters (about 9,800 feet) using a chart, but the METAR data (standard weather report) showed visibility was about 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) and there was mist. The complaint says that under Visual Flight Rules, planes aren’t allowed to land when visibility is below a certain level and the plane shouldn’t have been allowed to land.
Next steps, investigative scope and political implications
The filing also mentions that the flight crew was changed at the last minute, and that Runway 29 was unexpectedly switched to Runway 11 (a “tabletop runway” which is built on a hill) only two minutes before landing. The plane didn’t try to land again after the first attempt (a “go-around”), and sounds from the cockpit suggest the pilots didn’t do anything to fix the problem. The complaint also says the head pilot has previously broken rules about alcohol, including testing positive for it and being suspended by the aviation authorities.
Rohit Pawar is pushing for a full criminal investigation to happen at the same time as the AAIB’s technical investigation. He says the Pune CID’s simple “accidental death” ruling doesn’t answer important questions about the altered records and the decisions made by people on the plane and on the ground.
