Ajit Pawar, the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, India's wealthiest state, tragically died in a plane crash on January 28, 2026. According to Al Jazeera, Pawar was a 'key political figure' and served as the second-highest elected official in the state. The crash occurred while Pawar was traveling to his home region to campaign for local body elections, as reported by Dawn. The aircraft, a chartered plane, went down in flames, killing all five people on board, including two of Pawar's staff and two crew members, as confirmed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Dawn described the scene with 'billows of smoke rising from some of the burning wreckage of the plane, scattered across an open field.'