Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and five others were killed after a private aircraft carrying them crashed in Pune district on Wednesday morning, officials said.

According to preliminary information shared by authorities, the Learjet 45 aircraft (registration VT-SSK), operated by VSR, lost control while landing at Baramati airport. The incident occurred during the descent phase, following which the aircraft made a crash landing.

Officials said there were five passengers on board, including Ajit Pawar, along with two security personnel, a personal security officer (PSO) and an attendant and two crew members comprising the pilot-in-command and the first officer.

In a statement, the Maharashtra government said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to receive updates on the incident.

Ajit Pawar was the nephew of veteran leader and NCP founder Sharad Pawar, and the cousin of Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule. He was among Maharashtra’s longest-serving Deputy Chief Ministers, having held the post non-consecutively for six terms across different administrations. He served as Deputy Chief Minister in the governments led by Prithviraj Chavan, Devendra Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde.

He is survived by his wife Sunetra Pawar and their two sons, Jay and Parth Pawar.