Plane crash deaths in India: From Sanjay Gandhi to Ajit Pawar

New Delhi: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and five other persons were killed after an aircraft carrying them crashed in Pune district on Wednesday morning.

Ajit Pawar is not the first among prominent political and public figures to die in air disasters. There is a list of such leaders including Congress’s prominent Sanjay Gandhi, who died in 1980 and Homi Jehangir Bhabha in 1966.

Homi Jehangir Bhabha (1966)

It was in January 24, 1966, the pioneer of India’s nuclear science programme HJ Bhabha died when he was travelling on Air India Flight 101, which crashed into Mon Blanc in the Swiss Alps. An error in communication was reported as the reason behind the accident.

Sanjay Gandhi (1980)

Sanjay Gandhi died on June 23, 1980, when his mother Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India. An incident happened near Safdarjung Airport in Delhi when the aircraft from the Delhi Flying Club lost control and crashed.

GMC Balayogi (2002)

GMC Balayogi was the sitting speaker of the Lok Sabha when he died in March 3, 2002. The Telugu Desam Party leader died when a private helicopter carrying him from Bhimavaram in West Godavari district crashed into a pond near Kaikalur in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh.

KS Sowmya Soundarya (2004)

On April 17, 2004, renowned South Indian actress K S Sowmya died in an air crash. Soundarya was flying from Bengaluru to Karimnagar along with her brother when the aircraft met with an accident.

OP Jindal and Surender Singh (2005)

It was in 2005, Industrialist and Haryana minister Om Prakash Jindal died in a helicopter crash, when he was travelling Delhi to Chandigarh when the chopper crashed in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. Haryana Agriculture Minister Surender Singh also lost his life in the incident.

YS Rajasekhara Reddy (2009)

Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, widely known as YSR, died in an helicopter crash in September 2, 2009. The former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister's Bell 430 helicopter carrying him crashed in the dense Nallamala forest region. The accident was due to adverse conditions.

Dorjee Khandu (2011)

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu died on April 30, 2011, when his helicopter flying from Tawang to Itanagar crashed in West Kameng district. Four people more died in the accident.

General Bipin Rawat (2021)

General Bipin Rawat, who was India’s first Chief of Defence Staff, died in December 8, 2021, when his helicopter crashed during its flight from Sulur to Wellington. The accident happened near Coonoor, killing His wife and 11 other personnel.

Vijay Rupani (2025)

In 2025 June 12, former Chief Minister of Gujarat Vijay Rupani died in an Air India crash in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad. The plane crash had claimed the lives of over 200 people and only passenger survived the crash.

Based on Siasat report