Ajit Pawar Cremated with Full State Honours

29 Jan 2026 6:38 AM IST

Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy CM Eknath Shinde were also present, along with Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra, who is a Rajya Sabha member, and sons Parth and Jay

Ajit Pawar Cremated with Full State Honours

Police personnel carry mortal remains of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar during his funeral, at Baramati in Pune district, Thursday. (PTI Photo/Kunal Patil)

Baramati: The last rites of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, killed in a plane crash, were held with full state honours on Thursday at Baramati in Pune district.Union ministers Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, former Union minister Sharad Pawar and BJP president Nitin Nabin attended the 66-year-old Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief's funeral at the Vidya Pratishthan ground at Baramati, around 100 km from Pune.

Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy CM Eknath Shinde were also present, along with Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra, who is a Rajya Sabha member, and sons Parth and Jay. Ajit Pawar's cousin Supriya Sule, Lok Sabha member from Baramati, and NCP working president and former Union minister Praful Patel were also present.

Thousands of people gathered for Ajit Pawar's last rites chanted "Ajit Dada amar rahe", when his mortal remains, draped in the national flag, were brought from his village Katewadi to the Vidya Pratishthan ground.

Shah, Gadkari, Nabin, Fadnavis, Union minister Ramdas Athawale, Goa CM Pramod Sawant, Eknath Shinde, former Union minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Andhra Pradesh minister Nara Lokesh were among the leaders who placed floral wreaths on Pawar's mortal remains.

Parth and Jay lit their father's funeral pyre.

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 village.

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

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.

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

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

The aircraft was cleared for landing 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.

The Civil Aviation Ministry on Thursday said the "black box" (comprising the Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorde) of the Learjet aircraft has been recovered.

Live Updates

29 Jan 2026 7:24 AM IST

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's mortal remains were brought to an educational institute in Baramati in Pune district on Wednesday evening amid outpouring of emotions as grief-stricken NCP workers and local residents shouted slogans hailing the late leader. Slogans like 'Ajit dada amar rahe" and "Ajit dada parat ya" (long live Ajit dada, Ajit dada come back) reverberated the air as the mortal remains were brought to the premises of the Vidya Pratishtan in his home turf of Baramati to allow people to pay their last respects to the NCP president.
29 Jan 2026 7:03 AM IST
Former Indian Air Force pilot Captain (Retd) Ehsan Khalid stated that the fatal Baramati charter plane crash, which claimed the lives of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others, could have resulted from a combination of factors, including adverse weather conditions, technical issues or pilot judgment error.
29 Jan 2026 6:40 AM IST
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde decried politics over the death of his cabinet colleague Ajit Pawar and said the cause of the aircraft crash that killed the latter and four others was under investigation. He insisted that no one should spread rumours or give a different colour to this sensitive and tragic incident.
29 Jan 2026 6:38 AM IST
Police registered an accidental death report (ADR) case in connection with the plane crash that killed Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others in Baramati in Pune district on Wednesday, an official said.