New Delhi, Feb. 3 -- The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered a special audit of VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd, the charter operator that owned the Learjet 45, which crashed in Baramati last week, killing Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and four others. The order, a copy of which has been reviewed by Hindustan Times, states "VSR Ventures Pvt. Ltd. Lear jet 45 aircraft VT-SSK met with an accident on 28.01.2026 at Baramati. In view of the above, a special audit of M/s VSR Ventures Pvt. Ltd is to be carried out.The team is advised to submit the report by 15th February 2026." The audit team will be led by RK Anand, Deputy Director General, and will include Pathik Vaghela, Deputy Director (Air Safety); Sushil Malik, Deputy Director (Airworthiness); and Siva Kumar Jadala, Assistant Director (Air Safety). The team will also have Capt. Apoorva Agarwal as senior flight operations inspector, SFOI (A) and Capt. Lokesh Rampal as flight operations inspector (FOI). Senior government officials told HT on condition of anonymity that the audit will check for lapses in maintenance and flight operations. Pawar had flown to Baramati at least 20 times in the last six months, including at least two flights with the same pilot before the day of the crash, one of the officials cited above added. According to records reviewed by HT, the jet, VT-SSK was actively flying since at least the last week of December, operating charters to Mumbai, Goa (Mopa), Mangaluru, Delhi, Kolhapur, Nagpur, Pune, Surat and Juhu airport in Mumbai. "While the reason for the crash last week will be known after the investigation is complete, the operator is being probed to check for lapses in maintenance and their casual approach towards flight operations," a second official said. "All parameters including the alleged under-logging of flying hours will be thoroughly examined," this person added. This comes as various insiders have alleged that VSR under-logs engine hours and crew flying time. Stretching engine hours leads to delay in maintenance schedule effectively saving costs for the operator. A third official said safety regulator DGCA has already compiled data from past audits of the operator. The eight-seater Learjet 45 business jet, crashed in Baramati on Wednesday during its second landing attempt. A team of three officers from the AAIB, Delhi, along with three officers from the DGCA's Mumbai regional office, reached the crash site soon after the accident. CCTV footage that has since surfaced appears to show the aircraft's left wing dropping suddenly moments before impact. In the brief video clip, the jet has been seen sharply veering to one side mid-air before crashing in a ball of flames, visuals that aviation experts said point to three possible scenarios: an aerodynamic stall, a steep bank too close to the ground, or an engine failure. The aircraft's black box has since reached Delhi and will be decoded by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB). According to people familiar with the matter, AAIB and DGCA teams returned to base on Sunday night, after the wreckage was lifted from the crash site. This is not the first crash involving a Learjet 45 belonging to the same operator. The aircraft VT-DBL was involved in an accident while landing at Mumbai airport in September 2023 amidst bad weather. The aircraft broke into two pieces and was destroyed, though all six occupants survived with injuries. AAIB issued a preliminary report in that case, stating that flight recorder data had been downloaded and records relating to maintenance, crew, radar, ATC communications and the enhanced ground proximity warning system been sent for analysis. However, more than two years later, the final findings have not been made public. They say that if the final findings had been released, it would have clarified whether corrective actions by the operator were required. Responding to allegations and the delay of the report, AAIB, in a statement issued on Monday said, " There were two crew and six passengers on board. The co-pilot suffered serious injury whereas the PIC (pilot in charge) and six passengers suffered minor injuries. The co-pilot could not be interviewed for a long time since he was in bad shape. The aircraft was destroyed during the accident." The bureau said that the investigation team prepared a detailed preliminary report on the accident which included the initial outcome of analysis of date from the flight recorders and published the report on AAIB's website. "The investigation team has analysed all the evidence and other documents. The investigation is in final stages. The investigation team is trying their best to finalise the report on top priority," it said in the statement....