Patna: A chartered Learjet 45 that crashed while landing at Baramati airport in Maharashtra on Wednesday morning, killing five people including Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, has been traced to a company owned by a native of Muzaffarpur in Bihar and was scheduled to fly to Patna later that day.
According to a report by Dainik Bhaskar, the aircraft was operated by VSR Ventures, a Delhi-registered charter firm owned by Captain V K Singh, a resident of Muzaffarpur. Aviation officials confirmed that the jet was part of a regular charter circuit that included Patna among its destinations.
Along with Pawar, those killed in the crash included his personal security officer HC Vidip Jadhav, pilots Captain Sumit Kapoor and Captain Shambhavi Pathak, and flight attendant Pinky Mali. The aircraft crashed during the landing phase at Baramati, and an investigation has been launched to determine the cause.
The Patna connection has drawn attention in Bihar, as the same aircraft had previously operated multiple charter flights to the state capital. During the Bihar assembly election campaign, it was used to ferry senior BJP leaders to Patna, including Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, according to people familiar with its operations.
On Wednesday, the jet was scheduled to carry Andhra Pradesh businessman Mahesh Kumar Reddy from Shamshabad airport to Patna. Following the crash, the flight was cancelled. Reddy later reached Patna on an alternative chartered aircraft and departed the city around 7.30pm, sources said.
