Went on duty with Ajit Pawar, never returned: Attendant Pinky Mali among Baramati plane crash victims

MUMBAI: Pinky Mali, an attendant accompanying Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, was among those who died in the plane crash in Baramati on Wednesday, a loss that has left her family in deep shock and grief.

Pinky was travelling on the Learjet 45 along with Pawar, his PSO Vidip Jadhav, and two crew members — Captain Sumit Kapur and Captain Shambhavi Pathak — when the aircraft crash-landed during a second landing attempt at Baramati airport.




Photographs of her with Ajit Pawar, along with images of her parents at their residence in Prabhadevi, Mumbai, capture the personal toll of the tragedy.

At their modest home in Prabhadevi, her father, Shiv Kumar Mali, struggled to come to terms with the sudden loss. Speaking to reporters, he recalled his last conversation with his daughter just a day earlier.

“She told me yesterday that she would be going to Baramati with Ajit Dada and that from there she would head to Nanded. She said she would call me from the hotel,” he said, his voice breaking.

The next morning, the routine of daily life shattered.

“When I switched on the TV and saw the news, my limbs started trembling,” Shiv Kumar Mali said, describing the moment he realised his daughter was among the victims of the crash.

Pinky Mali had been working closely with Ajit Pawar as an attendant, travelling frequently as part of his official engagements. Her death, alongside that of Pawar and others on board, has brought a wave of mourning not only across Maharashtra’s political circles but also into the quiet lanes of Prabhadevi, where neighbours gathered outside the Mali residence to offer condolences.