Ajit Pawar plane crash | DGCA orders 'immediate grounding' of four VSR Ventures jets over various lapses

Cracking the whip, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday ordered the "immediate grounding" of four aircraft of VSR Ventures, whose plane crashed in Baramati killing Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others last month.

The action came following a special safety audit of VSR Ventures by the DGCA following the crash of its Learjet 45 aircraft (VT-SSK) on January 28.

A DGCA statement said the multi-disciplinary audit team observed several non-compliances of approved procedures in the organisation in the area of airworthiness, air safety, and flight operations.

"In view of the non-compliances observed and considering the gaps in maintenance procedures, it is decided to initiate the corrective measures by immediately grounding Learjet 40/45 aircraft with registration VT-VRA, VT-VRS, VT-VRV, and VT-TRI till continued airworthiness standards are restored," it said.

Deficiency reporting forms have been issued to VSR Ventures in the areas concerned to submit root cause analysis on the non-compliances. The submissions would be assessed by the DGCA before the next course of action, it said.

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is expected to come out with its preliminary report into the fatal crash before February 28 even as a section has claimed that there could be conspiracy behind the incident.