Where is Katewadi, Ajit Pawar’s ancestral village?

Maharashtra: Ajit Pawar, Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister and one of the state’s most influential political leaders, died in a plane crash on January 28, triggering widespread grief across the state and plunging his ancestral village, Katewadi in Pune district, into mourning.

Pawar’s mortal remains were on Thursday brought to his residence in Katewadi ahead of his last rites. Funeral preparations are underway at the Vidya Pratishthan ground in Baramati for the Nationalist Congress leader, who lost his life in the crash earlier this week.

Also read: Ajit Pawar, the man behind Maharashtra’s budgets and a towering NCP leader, dies at 66 in a plane crash


Katewadi is a village in Baramati taluka, located around 10 km from Baramati town and about 110 km east of Pune city. A gram panchayat village with a population of nearly 7,000 people living in about 1,400 households, it is primarily agrarian and has long been closely associated with the Pawar family, giving it symbolic importance in Maharashtra’s political landscape.

The village is recognised as the ancestral home of Ajit Pawar, the nephew of veteran leader Sharad Pawar, and has been closely tied to his political journey over the decades. Locals recall Pawar’s frequent visits and interactions, describing him not just as a powerful leader but as “dada”, an elder figure deeply connected to the community.

Ajit Pawar died when a chartered aircraft crash-landed near Baramati Airport, an incident that also claimed the lives of four others on board. News of the tragedy spread quickly through Katewadi, where daily life came to a standstill as residents gathered in mourning.



The mortal remains of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar will be carried in a decorated rath for his 'Antim Yatra' today. The chariot is adorned with flowers, featuring Pawar's image and a board reading "Swargiya Ajitdada Pawar amar rahein" (Long live Ajit Dada Pawar).



Ajit Pawar was the longest-serving Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra non-consecutively. He served in the position for six terms within various governments. He had worked as deputy chief minister in the cabinets of Prithviraj Chavan, Devendra Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde.