Jay Pawar, the younger son of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, has called for a comprehensive and impartial investigation into the plane crash near Baramati that claimed his father’s life along with four others on January 28.

In a social media post on Wednesday, Jay Pawar raised concerns over what he described as “possible serious lapses” that may have led to the fatal accident. He asserted that the aircraft’s black box is not easily destroyed and stressed that people of Maharashtra deserve to know the complete truth behind the crash.

Demand for action against aviation company

The ill-fated Learjet 45XR aircraft was operated by VSR Ventures Private Limited. Jay Pawar urged authorities to conduct a detailed probe into the firm’s operations and sought a ban on the aviation company pending investigation.

“A detailed investigation of possible serious lapses and irregularities of the aircraft firm should be done in a detailed and impartial manner,” he said.

The crash occurred near the Baramati airstrip, resulting in the deaths of Ajit Pawar and four others.

Call for CBI probe and sabotage allegations

Jay Pawar’s statement came a day after Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar and leaders from the Nationalist Congress Party met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to demand a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the accident.

Separately, NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar alleged there was reason to suspect sabotage in the crash and called for a multi-agency investigation involving experts.

During a press conference last week, Rohit Pawar also questioned the past record of Captain Sumit Kapoor, who was piloting the aircraft on the day of the crash. He referred to the pilot’s previous three-year suspension for alcohol consumption.

AAIB seeking support to retrieve CVR data

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is conducting a detailed probe into the crash. According to the agency, special technical assistance has been sought to retrieve data from the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) of the Learjet 45 aircraft involved in the accident.

The investigation is ongoing.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate the India AI Impact Summit 2026 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi today.

He will participate in the opening ceremony at around 9:40 am and is scheduled to address the gathering at approximately 10:25 am. The inaugural session is expected to include addresses by French President Emmanuel Macron and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, along with leading figures from the global technology and industry sectors.

Following the ceremony, the Prime Minister is expected to visit the India AI Impact Expo 2026 at around 11 am with other leaders, where various country pavilions will be showcased.

118 countries participating in summit

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, in his welcome address, said the summit has drawn participation from 118 countries.

Describing artificial intelligence as a foundational technology, he said AI is transforming how people work, learn and make decisions. The minister outlined five layers of the AI stack — Application, Model, Compute, Infrastructure and Energy — and said India is working across all these layers to democratise technology and ensure its benefits reach the masses.

Leaders’ plenary and CEO roundtable scheduled

The Prime Minister will participate in the Leaders’ Plenary around noon. The session will bring together heads of state, ministers and senior representatives from multilateral institutions to discuss governance, infrastructure and international cooperation in artificial intelligence.

Later in the evening, from 5:30 pm onwards, he will attend a CEO roundtable. The meeting will convene senior executives from global technology and industry firms along with government leadership to deliberate on investment, research collaboration, supply chains and deployment of AI systems.

Bill Gates to skip keynote address

Meanwhile, the Gates Foundation said Bill Gates will not deliver his keynote address at the summit today.

The organisation said it has decided that Mr Gates will not speak to ensure focus remains on the summit’s key priorities. The foundation will instead be represented by Ankur Vora, president of its Africa and India offices, who is scheduled to speak later during the event.

The foundation reiterated its commitment to advancing shared health and development goals in India.

Theme of the summit

The six-day summit began on February 16 and is being held under the theme “Sarvajan Hitaya, Sarvajan Sukhaya” (welfare for all, happiness of all).

This is the fourth annual international AI-focused gathering, following previous meetings held in the United Kingdom in 2023, South Korea in 2024 and France in 2025.

The exhibition remains closed to the general public today. To compensate for the closure, the government has extended the expo by an additional day and it will remain open until Saturday, February 21.

Galgotias University has reportedly been asked to vacate its exhibition space at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi after a controversy erupted over the display of a robotic dog at the event.

The Greater Noida-based institution came under scrutiny after a video from the summit went viral on social media. In the clip, representatives of the university were seen presenting a robotic dog as a product developed by its Centre of Excellence.

Robot identified as Unitree Go2

The robotic dog displayed at the summit was identified as the Unitree Go2, a commercially available quadruped robot manufactured by Chinese robotics company Unitree. The model is available for purchase in India at a price ranging between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 3 lakh.

At the summit, the machine was introduced under the name “Orion”. In one of the widely circulated videos, a university representative claimed during a media interaction that the robot had been developed at Galgotias University’s Centre of Excellence.

Another clip showed a professor making a similar assertion, stating that the robot was built by the university team. Social media users later pointed out that the device matched the Unitree Go2 model and alleged that imported technology was being presented as an indigenous innovation.

University issues clarification

Following the backlash, Galgotias University released a statement on X, formerly Twitter, clarifying that the robotic dog had been procured from Unitree and was being used as a learning tool for students.

In its statement, the university said the robodog was acquired to help students experiment and expand their technical understanding. It further stated that it had not built the robot nor claimed to have done so.

However, the clarification drew further criticism online. A Community Note was added to the university’s post, stating that the claim of never presenting the robodog as its own was misleading. The note highlighted that the robot had been renamed “Orion” and that university representatives had explicitly claimed it was developed by their team during the event.

Faculty response amid reports of removal

Responding to the controversy, Neha, a communications faculty member at the School of Management who had earlier described the robot as a Galgotias innovation, said the issue may have stemmed from a misunderstanding during interaction with the media. She stated that she is not part of the AI department and that the robot was brought for projection purposes.

Meanwhile, amid reports that the university had been asked to vacate its stall at the summit, Professor Aishwarya Shrivastava said that they had no such information at that point.

Social media backlash intensifies

The controversy gained momentum after several users on X shared side-by-side comparisons of the robot displayed at the summit and promotional images of the Unitree Go2 available online.

One widely circulated post stated:

“This is Unitree Go2, a Chinese robot that can be ordered online. How is this being presented as developed by the university?”

Another user wrote:

“Renaming a commercial product ‘Orion’ doesn’t make it indigenous. This is a standard Unitree model.”

Multiple posts questioned how a commercially available imported product was described as a Centre of Excellence innovation during a national AI-focused summit.

The university later described the criticism as part of a “propaganda campaign” against it. Its post itself carried a Community Note stating that video evidence showed representatives claiming the robot was developed in-house.

The episode has sparked wider debate online over transparency, attribution and accurate representation of technology at innovation events.