'I'll Call When I Land': Cabin Crew Pinky Mali's Promise Before Baramati Crash

On the morning of January 28, a chartered aircraft carrying Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar crashed near Baramati airport in Pune district, claiming the lives of all on board. Among the five victims was Pinky Mali, a young cabin crew member whose final phone call with her father has captured the heartbreak behind the headlines.

Pinky was travelling on the Learjet 45 along with DCM Pawar, his PSO Vidip Jadhav, and two crew members Captain Sumit Kapur and Captain Shambhavi Pathak, when the aircraft crash landed during a second landing attempt at Baramati airport.

Who was Pinky Mali?

Pinky Mali (29) was from Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, and based in Worli, Mumbai. She worked as a flight attendant with VSR Ventures. Her father, Shivkumar Mali, was a cab driver and a long-time worker for the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), according to Loksatta.

Pinky's father vividly recalled the final phone call he had with his daughter. “Papa, I’m flying to Baramati tomorrow with Ajit Pawar… after that I’ll go to Nanded and call you from the hotel,” she had said. Her promise to talk the next day became her father’s last memory of her voice.

He added, "When I switched on the TV and saw the news, my limbs started trembling,” Shivkumar Mali said, describing the moment he realised his daughter was among the victims of the crash".

A Work Day Turned Into A Tragedy

Neighbours and relatives gathered outside Pinky’s home in Worli, trying to absorb the news. What was supposed to be a normal workday became a loss too big to process in a single moment. Her parents' grief is raw, a daughter he last spoke to with hope and everyday plans, gone in a single flight.

Pinky's mother, Maya Mali, has demanded a full investigation into the plane crash. She told NDTV that she had been anxious since the morning because Pinky had not responded to any of her messages. "She used to call me every morning. But today she didn't reply to any of my messages. She didn't reply to any of my messages," Maya said.

"I was very nervous. I was thinking that something had happened. But they were not telling me. But I could feel it from inside. She used to call me every morning. She used to ask me to have breakfast and take medicine," the distraught mother added.

#AjitPawarDeath | Mother of Pinky Mali, the crew member who died in the plane crash speaks to @sujata_dwivedipic.twitter.com/gWijlPo5gv

— NDTV (@ndtv) January 28, 2026