Rohit Pawar, MLA from Sharad Pawar’s NCP faction, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday and addressed the media in Delhi, demanding the resignation of civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu over his uncle Ajit Pawar’s death in an air crash.

He alleged a larger “political” or “corporate” conspiracy behind the January 28 plane crash and sought an “independent” probe. He suggested that Naidu and his party Telugu Desam had links with VSR Aviation, the company from which the Learjet had been chartered.

Rohit denied suggestions that his conspiracy allegations were driven by the political
rift within the larger Pawar family, while ruling out a merger between the two rival NCP factions.

“When Ajit Dada was there, we were talking about a merger. Now, we don’t want a merger. We don’t want to go with that party,” Rohit told reporters.

The rival NCP faction led by Ajit is now headed by his wife Sunetra Pawar, who has replaced her husband as deputy chief minister in Maharashtra’s Devendra Fadnavis government.

In his letter to Modi, Rohit said “serious questions” had arisen relating to VSR Aviation and its alleged links with Naidu. “These links must be investigated by an independent and competent authority,” he wrote.

Referring to Modi’s past remarks about Ajit, Rohit’s letter said the Prime Minister had “always shown respect” for his uncle’s contribution to the country. He urged
that Naidu be asked to step down until the investigation was over.

Addressing reporters, Rohit said: “We are certain there is a conspiracy. It is not an accident as it was initially said to be.”

He added: “Whether it is political or corporate, we cannot say, but there are financial links between TDP (Telugu Desam Party) leaders and VSR. A lot of political power
is being used to shield the company.”

Sources close to Naidu dismissed as politically motivated the allegations about
the minister and his party shielding people connected to the crash.

They said aircraft accident investigations are carried out in keeping with established international protocols and are technical, transparent and entirely evidence-driven.

Rohit said the probe by aviation regulator DGCA, which functions under the civil aviation ministry, could not be considered independent in the light of the alleged links.

He said the DGCA had failed to release a preliminary probe report by February 15 as expected, and claimed the delay was part of an attempt to shield VSR.

The MLA raised questions over the aircraft’s black box data and the sequence of events leading to the crash.

He alleged there were multiple explosions and suggested that additional petrol cans may have been stored in the baggage compartment.

“If extra fuel was stored improperly and contributed to the fire, that must be thoroughly investigated,” he said.

Rohit claimed the aircraft’s cockpit voice recorder (CVR) had a recording capacity of only 30 minutes, against the two-hour requirement prescribed by the aviation
regulator.

“What happened in those last 30 minutes can only be known through the CVR. It is being said it has been damaged, but we don’t believe it,” he said.