Ajit Pawar, the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra and a senior member of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), lost his life in an airplane crash near Baramati on Wednesday morning, bringing attention to the nation’s terrible history of high-profile flight accidents.
The jet was trying to land in an open field when the incident happened at 8:45 a.m. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) subsequently confirmed that all five passengers had died. Videos posted on social media showed rescue personnel on the site as the wreckage caught fire.
Also read : Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar Dies Along With 5 Others In Baramati Plane Crash During Emergency Landing
This most recent tragedy highlights aviation’s dangerous undercurrents in India’s public life by bringing to mind other political heavyweights and notable individuals who met similar ends.
List of Prominent Leaders Who Died in Air Tragedies-
- Vijay Rupani (2025)- Nobody could forget the deadliest Air India Flight AI-171 plane crash 2025 wherein 265 victims died in which former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, aged 68 and a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader who helmed the state from 2016 to 2021, perished among the rest of the of the passengers shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025 afternoon.
- CDS Bipin Rawat (2021)- Even India’s first Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 others died in a Mi-17V5 helicopter crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on December 8, 2021, where they departed from Sulur for Wellington.
- Dorjee Khandu (2011)- During a flight from Tawang to Itanagar Arunachal Pradesh CM Dorjee Khandu and four others were killed on April 30, 2011, when their Pawan Hans helicopter went down in a remote area of West Kameng district near the China border. After 5 Days wreckage was found.
- YS Rajasekhara Reddy (2009)- In 2009, Andhra Pradesh CM YS Rajasekhara Reddy who is profoundly known as YSR died alongside others in a Bell 430 helicopter crash amid the dense Nallamala Hills on September 2, due to bad weather. The next day the team was able to find its locale.
- OP Jindal (2005)- While flying from Delhi to Chandigarh OP Jindal, Haryana Power Minister and industrialist alongside former Union Agriculture Minister Surender Singh, son of ex-President Shankar Dayal Sharma died in a helicopter crash in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, on March 31, 2005.
- Cyprian Sangma (2004)- On September 22, 2004 Meghalaya’s Rural Development Minister Cyprian Sangma and nine others lost their lives when their Pawan Hans helicopter that was travelling from Guwahati to Shillong crashed near Barapani lake.
- G M C Balayogi (2002)- Speaker of the Lok Sabha and leader of the Telugu Desam Party, G M C Balayogi passed away on March 3, 2002, in a helicopter crash in the Krishna region of Andhra Pradesh, close to Kaikalur. According to reports, the plane carrying him from Bhimavaram in West Godavari experienced a mechanical issue in midair and crashed into a pond.
- Madhavrao Scindia (2001)- On September 30, 2001, senior Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia, a former civil aviation minister from the Gwalior royal family and the father of Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, died when his 10-seater chartered plane crashed in bad weather close to Bhogaon in the Mainpuri district of Uttar Pradesh while traveling to a Kanpur rally. Everyone on board died.
Also read : PM Modi Mourns Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, ‘A Leader Of The People’
- Sanjay Gandhi (1980)- On June 23, 1980, Congressman Sanjay Gandhi, the son of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and long considered her political heir, passed away at the age of 33 when the two-seater plane he was piloting during a test flight close to Delhi’s Safdarjung Airport lost control due to aerial antics.
- Bhabha Homi (1966)- Due to a misunderstanding with Geneva air traffic control, Air India Flight 101 crashed into Mont Blanc in the Swiss Alps on January 24, 1966, killing pioneering nuclear researcher Homi Jehangir Bhabha.
- Balwantrai Mehta, Gujarat’s second chief minister, was killed earlier in the 1965 war when a Pakistani Air Force jet accidentally shot down his civilian aircraft when he was on an official tour close to the India-Pakistan border.
- Gurnam Singh, former Punjab Chief Minister died in a plane crash in Delhi on May 31, 1973.
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