Vijay Rupani, Bipin Rawat, Sanjay Gandhi: List of Indian leaders, prominent figures who died in air crashes
Authored By Navashree Nandini
Published: Jun 13, 2025, 18:55 IST | Updated: Jun 13, 2025, 18:55 IST
Former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani was killed in Ahmedabad plane crash. Earlier, air tragedies have claimed lives of many Indian leaders and prominent figures. Here's a list
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(Photograph: WION Web Desk)
Former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani killed in Ahmedabad plane crash
An Air India flight - Boeing 787 Dreamliner - en route to London Gatwick, crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad Airport on June 12. The plane carried 242 passengers including former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani. All were killed in the fatal crash except one UK national who miraculously survived
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(Photograph: Congress)
Congress leader Sanjay Gandhi died in a plane crash
Congress leader and son of then prime minister Indira Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi died in a plane crash on June 23, 1980. His plane lost control and crashed while he was attempting aerial stunts in a Delhi Flying Club aircraft near the Safdarjung Airport.
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(Photograph: YSRCP)
Former Andhra Pradesh CM YS Reddy died in helicopter crash
On 2 September 2009, a helicopter carrying former Andhra Pradesh CM YS Reddy went missing in the Nallamala Forest area. It was later confirmed to have crashed with all five people including Reddy pronounced dead.
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(Photograph: PTI)
Madhavrao Scindia died in a plane crash
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 near Manipuri in Uttar Pradesh.
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(Photograph: PTI)
Dorjee Khandu was killed in helicopter crash
On May 5, 2011, five days after the helicopter that he was using went missing, Dorjee Khandu, the then Auranachal CM was found dead in Luguthang, near the China border.
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(Photograph: jsplgroup dot com)
OP Jindal died in a helicopter crash
Industrialist and Haryana minister Om Prakash Jindal died in a helicopter crash in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Another minister, Surender Singh, also died in the crash.
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(Photograph: PTI)
GMC Balayogi died in a helicopter crash
The then Lok Sabha Speaker GMC Balayogi died in a helicopter crash in Andhra Pradesh’s Krishna district Balayogi had gone for a religious meeting in Bhimavaram in East Godavari district and was to return to Secunderabad by train, but at the last moment, decided to fly instead.
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Haryana Agriculture Minister Surender Singh killed in helicopter crash
Haryana Agriculture Minister Surender Singh was killed alongside OP Jindal in the same helicopter crash on March 31, 2005
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(Photograph: PTI)
Other prominent figures who died in plane crash
India's Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat died in a Mi-17 V5 helicopter crash on December 8, 2021. KS Sowmya, known as Soundarya, died in a plane crash on April 17, 2004. A Mi-17 V5 carrying General Rawat, his wife Madhulika, and 12 others crashed into the hills minutes before landing after taking off from the Sulur Air Force base in Coimbatore. While KS Sowmya was traveling from Bangalore to Karimnagar with her brother Amarnath for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) campaign
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