Rohit Pawar seeks Civil Aviation Minister's removal till probe into Ajit Pawar crash ends
Mumbai (PTI): NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar on Wednesday demanded that Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu be removed from his post until the probe into Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's plane crash is completed.
The legislator, who is the nephew of the late NCP leader Ajit Pawar, also claimed that the VSR company, whose Learjet plane carrying his uncle crashed in Pune's Baramati town last month, was being protected.
The civil aviation minister and his party (Telugu Desam Party) are close to the VSR company owners, he charged at a press conference.
"Some former ministers from Maharashtra and top TDP ministers from Andhra Pradesh attended the marriage of Rohit Singh, son of the VSR owner VK Singh. The company is allowed to operate and top politicians are still using the Learjet planes of the company," he claimed.
Naidu should not continue as civil aviation minister on moral grounds, Rohit Pawar said.
There is not even a preliminary probe report yet, and there is reason to believe that efforts are being made to save the VSR company, the NCP (SP) leader added.
He said it was good that the NCP leadership, including his aunt and Deputy CM Sunetra Pawar, met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and demanded a CBI probe into the January 28 air crash that killed Ajit Pawar.
Sunetra Pawar, accompanied by senior NCP leaders Sunil Tatkare, Praful Patel, Hassan Mushrif, and elder son Parth Pawar, met Fadnavis on Tuesday and handed over a letter seeking a CBI probe.
"Many issues that I raised have been included in the letter," Rohit Pawar said.
The probe needs to be impartial and the report needs to be submitted to a committee which includes aviation experts, political leaders, he opined.
NCP leader Ajit Pawar and four others were killed in a plane crash at Baramati in Pune district on January 28.
The aircraft accident probe agency, AAIB, on Tuesday said that special support has been sought for the retrieval of data from the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) of the Learjet 45 plane involved in the fatal crash.
Rohit Pawar said his family has expressed concern for his safety since he has taken on the "high and mighty".
"I wonder why BJP trolls were criticising me for demanding justice for my uncle. One troll with a verified handle had posted about a political earthquake in the state two days before the plane crash," he claimed.
The MLA also said that if there was a political angle to the accident, it involved two possibilities: one, speculation that the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) might join the NDA after merging with the NCP; and two, that Ajit Pawar could quit the NDA following the merger.
Some groups were unhappy with either scenario, he claimed.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Nine of family killed as car falls into well in Nashik district
Nashik (PTI): Nine members of a family, including six children, were killed after their car fell into a well in Maharashtra's Nashik district, police said on Saturday.
The accident occurred in the Shivaji Nagar area of Dindori town around 10 pm on Friday, an official said.
The victims were heading home after attending a function at a banquet hall in the area when their car fell into a well near the venue, he said.
Personnel from the local police and emergency services arrived at the scene and retrieved the car and its occupants with the help of two cranes and swimmers around midnight.
The victims were members of the Dargude family from Indore village in Dindori taluka, the official said.
According to the police, the deceased were identified as Sunil Dattu Dargude (32), his wife Reshma, Asha Anil Dargude (32), and six children from the family, five girls in the age group of seven to 14 years and an 11-year-old boy.
Their bodies were brought to the government hospital in Dindori, the official said, adding that a case has been registered and a probe is underway to ascertain the cause of the accident.
