Mumbai, February 25 (NationPress) Rohit Pawar, a member of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), has made grave accusations against Union Civil Aviation Minister Rammohan Naidu and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). He alleges that there is a deliberate effort to protect the "VSR Company", which operated the aircraft that was involved in the tragic crash of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on January 28.

Addressing reporters at the Vidhan Bhavan, Rohit Pawar, who is also Ajit Pawar's nephew, highlighted what he termed as discrepancies within the investigative timeline and the nature of reports published by the aviation authority. He pointed out that while Ajit Pawar’s body was undergoing a post-mortem at the hospital, the DGCA released an initial report at 1:36 p.m. on the day of the incident.

He referred to the report, which indicated that an audit of VSR Company performed in February found "no Level-1 safety deficiencies".

Rohit Pawar took issue with Naidu's statement issued that same day, which claimed there were no safety issues with the VSR Learjet and effectively exonerated the pilot prior to the investigation's conclusion.

“While our leader lay in the hospital, the DGCA was busy attempting to absolve the company. They asserted everything was satisfactory, but the reality suggests otherwise,” he stated.

Referring to a later DGCA report that admitted to multiple lapses, Rohit Pawar described it as merely a "minor success" that still allowed the firm to avoid responsibility.

He noted that the special audit ultimately revealed significant shortcomings, such as missing or incorrect documentation before flights, breaches of standard safety protocols, and negligence in operational management.

“Due to your negligence, we lost a leader. He may have been the deputy chief minister, but in the eyes of the people, he was their chief minister. Maharashtra has lost a giant due to this recklessness,” he added.

Rohit Pawar called on Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to step in. He also announced a state-wide legal initiative, stating that a complaint against the DGCA was being filed on Wednesday.

He mentioned his intention to go to Baramati to meet with the police inspector and that he would remain there until an FIR was lodged.

The NCP (SP) legislator urged citizens throughout Maharashtra to file FIRs in their respective areas to ensure the issue would not be buried. He acknowledged the public and media for maintaining pressure on the administration, which compelled the DGCA to recognize the technical flaws it initially ignored.