This image shows Captain Sahil Madaan, not Captain Sumit Kapoor.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was killed on 28 January, 2026, when his chartered aircraft crashed near the Baramati airport in Pune district. All five people on board were reported dead. Following the accident an image of a man is going viral on social media claiming to be Captain Sumit Kapoor, who was the pilot of the aircraft carrying Ajit Pawar that crashed in Baramati
Let’s check the truth.
Fact Check-
We started our investigation with a keyword search for Captain Sumit Kapur which led us to several news reports. As per reports, the Pilot in-command, Captain Sumit Kapur, and First Officer, Shambhavi Pathak were experienced professionals with over 15,000 hours of flying under their belt. Their identities were confirmed by the aircraft operator, VSR Aviation.
Captain Sumit Kapoor was not even supposed to fly the aircraft. He filled in for another pilot who got stuck in traffic, Mr. Kapoor, who had returned from Hong Kong a few days ago, received orders to fly the aircraft with Ajit Pawar to Baramati just a few hours before the tragic incident according to his friends.
According to a Times of India report, the late Captain Sumit Kapoor, 62, was cremated at the Punjabi Bagh crematorium in Delhi in the presence of his family and close friends.
From these news reports we can clearly understand that the person in the viral image is not Captain Sumit Kapur.
So, we conducted a reverse image search of the viral image and the results led us to Captain Sahil Madaan, who is an experienced commercial pilot with over 16 years of aviation experience, primarily specializing in business jets and turboprop aircraft. According to his LinkedIn profile, Sahil began his aviation journey in 2010 with Air Charter Services Pvt. Ltd as Captain flying Pilatus PC-12 for over five years. He joined VSR Ventures Pvt. Ltd in 2015, and after working for four years, he moved to Winfly Aviation Pvt Ltd as a full-time chief pilot.
Apart from this, we also found a comment on the Instagram post of news outlet DNA from the handle @sanjamsahnimakeupartist , in which the user, identifying herself as the wife of pilot Sahil Madan, clarified that her husband was not on that plane.
Sahil Madaan’s Involvement: While some early reports and social media posts incorrectly identified Sahil Madaan as the pilot flying the aircraft, he was actually not on the plane during the crash.
Based on these evidences, we can understand that this viral image shows Captain Sahil Madaan, not Captain Sumit Kapoor.
Conclusion-
Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the viral image to be Misleading. This image shows Captain Sahil Madaan, not Captain Sumit Kapoor. Captain Sahil Madaan was not on the ill-fated flight. Captain Sumit Kapoor, who died in the crash, was a different individual.
Title:This image does not show Captain Sumit Kapoor, the pilot of the aircraft carrying Ajit Pawar that crashed in Baramati
Fact Check By: Usha ManojResult: Misleading
