Conduct judicial probe in Ajit Pawar's plane crash to clear 'doubt' and 'suspicion': NCP (SP) leader

Nagpur, Feb 3 (PTI) Former Maharashtra home minister and senior NCP (SP) leader Anil Deshmukh on Tuesday demanded a probe under a high court-judge into the plane crash that killed Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, to clear the "suspicion" and "doubt" whether it was an accident or sabotage.

He also said that several meetings were held between the leaders of the ruling NCP and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) over the possible merger of both the factions, and details regarding these talks will be disclosed by the leaders of his party soon.

Ajit Pawar and four others were killed in the plane crash at Baramati in Pune district on January 28.

When asked about Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut's targeting of the BJP over the plane crash incident, Deshmukh told a news channel, "The Civil Aviation Minister had initially said that visibility was not much during the landing of the concerned plane and that the airstrip was not properly visible. However, whatever videos have surfaced show the plane tilting to one side mid-air and then crashing. The plane suddenly flipped and crashed." "That is why everyone has suspicion whether it was sabotage or accident. Senior leaders from the NCP, including Chhagan Bhujbal or many MLAs like Amol Mitkari have raised doubts. The way the accident happened, everyone wants a detailed investigation to take place," he said.

"No doubt, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will investigate, but I also support what Sanjay Raut has demanded - that the entire incident should be probed under the supervision of a high court judge.

"Because, when it comes to sensitive matters, if the investigation happens under the high court's supervision, then exactly what happened - whether it was sabotage or an accident - will come to light before the people of Maharashtra and the country, and people's doubts will be cleared. Hence, I also feel that the investigation must happen under the supervision of a high court judge," Deshmukh said.

The NCP (SP) leader urged Union minister Nitin Gadkari to avoid travelling in small private chartered planes.

Talking about the claims and counter-claims over the merger of two NCP factions, Deshmukh said the NCP (SP) leadership held 14 meetings with Ajit Pawar.

"I attended many of these meetings along with our party leaders Shashikant Shinde, Harshvardhan Patil, Rajesh Tope, Jitendra Awhad, Rohit Pawar, Supriya Sule and Jayant Patil," he said.

One of the meetings held at Jayant Patil's house, started at 10 pm and went on till 3 am and detailed discussions were held. Similarly, one meeting was held between Supriya Sule, Ajit Pawar and Sunil Tatkare, he said.

"Supriya Sule will talk about it in future because now it is not the proper time as it is time of mourning. After the mourning period ends, we will tell about the meetings - where they was held and who all were present in the meetings and what was decided during them," he said. PTI CLS NP