Political leaders arrived in Maharashtra’s Baramati to pay their respects to Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who was among the five persons killed in a plane crash. The small aircraft crashed near an airstrip in Baramati town on Wednesday morning during its second attempt to land. Two pilots, an attendant and a security officer were the others who died.

The cause of the crash was unclear. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is probing the incident.

The Nationalist Congress Party leader, in his sixth term as the deputy chief minister, was flying in from Mumbai for a political rally ahead of civic elections.

The state government announced a three-day mourning. Read on.

Opposition leaders demanded an independent investigation into the plane crash that killed Pawar and four others.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that a few days ago she had come across a claim by an unidentified leader of another party on social media that Pawar was “willing to leave” the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance

“And now what happened today…I need proper investigation under the supervision of the Supreme Court,” she told reporters. “We only trust the Supreme Court, no other agency.”

Her demand was supported by Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, who said that “such an incident should not happen with a VIP”.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge also said that his party will demand an investigation into the incident. Read on.

The Supreme Court raised concerns about the claims made by two candidates from an upper-caste community seeking admission under the religious minority quota after converting to Buddhism. This was a “new type of fraud”, the court verbally observed.

A bench was hearing a writ petition filed by the candidates from Haryana seeking admission to postgraduate medical courses under the Buddhist minority quota at a college in Uttar Pradesh.

The petitioners claimed that they had converted to Buddhism and had presented minority certificates issued by a sub-divisional officer. The court, however, noted that they belonged to the Punia caste.

When told that they were from the Jat Punia community, which is in the general category, Chief Justice Surya Kant questioned their claim to minority status. The petitioners’ counsel said that conversion was a right.

Kant remarked: “This is another way of fraud…You want to snatch the rights of some genuine bona fide minority.” Read on.

The Delhi High Court sought a response from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on a petition challenging the aviation regulator’s decision to suspend new flight duty-time norms. The instructions were withdrawn on December 5 after a shortage of pilots and crew disrupted flights operated by IndiGo.

The regulator had issued revised Flight Duty Time Limit norms in January 2024 after concerns were raised about pilot fatigue. The norms were scheduled to take effect on June 1 but the airlines had asked for delayed implementation of the new rules because of staffing shortages and operational challenges.

The key changes were eventually introduced on November 1. The new rules required longer weekly rest, restricted night landings, extended the definition of night hours and limited consecutive night duties.

On Wednesday, the High Court noted that the flight duty-time norms must be implemented as they were directly linked to passenger safety. Read on.

A sessions court in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district granted bail to expelled Congress leader and Palakkad MLA Rahul Mamkootathil in the third rape case registered against him. The court allowed his appeal against the dismissal of his bail application by a magistrate court on January 17.

The alleged incident took place in 2024 at a hotel in Thiruvalla. The complainant, a non-resident Indian woman, alleged that Mamkootathil befriended her on social media, forced her to book a hotel room and sexually assaulted her, resulting in pregnancy and a subsequent miscarriage

Mamkootathil was arrested on January 11 in Palakkad following a complaint filed on January 8. He has been booked for rape and criminal intimidation. Read on.

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