CHENNAI: The sudden death of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in a plane crash has reopened painful memories of similar tragedies from India’s past, where influential leaders, national icons, and public figures lost their lives in aviation accidents.
General Bipin Rawat: One of the most devastating air accidents in recent times was the 2021 helicopter crash near Coonoor that claimed the life of General Bipin Rawat, India’s first Chief of Defence Staff. The crash also killed his wife, Madhulika Rawat, and 11 others, dealing a severe blow to India’s defence establishment and prompting nationwide mourning.
Dorjee Khandu: In 2011, Dorjee Khandu, then the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, died when the helicopter carrying him went down in the rugged terrain of West Kameng district. The accident highlighted the risks associated with air travel in remote and mountainous regions of the country.
YS Rajasekhara Reddy: Another major political loss occurred in 2009 when YS Rajasekhara Reddy, the sitting Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, was killed after his Bell 430 helicopter crashed in the Nallamala forest area. The tragedy sparked widespread grief across the state and raised concerns over weather-related flight decisions for VIP travel.
KS Soundarya: The entertainment world also witnessed a heartbreaking loss in 2004 with the death of KS Soundarya, a popular film actress and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate. She was travelling for election campaigning when the helicopter she was aboard crashed en route from Bengaluru to Karimnagar.
Sanjay Gandhi: Earlier, in 1980, Sanjay Gandhi, a prominent Congress leader and son of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, died in a crash involving a small aircraft during a flight over Delhi. His untimely death had far-reaching political consequences during a critical phase in India’s leadership history.
Dr Homi J Bhabha: One of the most significant aviation disasters in global aviation history involved Dr Homi J Bhabha, the chief architect of India’s nuclear programme. He died in 1966 when an Air India flight en route to Vienna crashed into Mont Blanc in France, killing everyone on board and halting the work of one of India’s foremost scientific minds.
Subhas Chandra Bose: The reported death of Subhas Chandra Bose in a 1945 plane crash in Taiwan remains one of India’s most debated historical episodes. While official accounts state that he died from injuries caused by an aircraft malfunction, alternative theories have continued to fuel public speculation for decades.
Rani Chandra: Cinema too was touched by tragedy in 1976 when Rani Chandra, known for her role in the Tamil film Bhadrakali, lost her life in the Indian Airlines Flight 171 crash near Bombay. The accident claimed several lives and remains one of the notable aviation disasters of its time.
Madhavrao Scindia (2001: Senior Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia, himself a former civil aviation minister, died on September 30, 2001 in a plane crash en route a political rally in Kanpur. The 10-seater private aircraft crashed due to poor weather conditions in Uttar Pradesh.
GMC Balayogi (2002): Lok Sabha Speaker and Telugu Desam Party leader G M C Balayogi died in a chopper crash on March 3, 2002, when a private helicopter carrying him from Bhimavaram in the West Godavari district crashed into a pond near Kaikalur in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh.
Cyprian Sangma (2004): Meghalaya's Rural Development Minister Cyprian Sangma and nine others, who were heading from Guwahati to Shillong on a Pawan Hans helicopter, were killed when the chopper crashed near the Barapani lake, just 20 km from the state capital, on September 22, 2004.
O P Jindal and Surender Singh: Industrialist and Haryana minister Om Prakash Jindal lost his life in a helicopter crash in 2005 along with Agriculture Minister Surender Singh. Their chopper was en route Chandigarh from Delhi when it crashed in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur.
Vijay Rupani: Former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani died in a plane crash in Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025. All but one of the 242 passengers and crew on board the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner (AI171) and more than 20 persons, including MBBS students on the ground, were killed in the aircraft crash.