Plane pilot cremated; locals recall him fondly
A heavy silence hung over a nondescript lane in Delhi’s Rajouri Garden on Thursday. Just a day ago, it lost its affable resident Captain Sumit Kapoor to the air crash in Baramati that claimed the life of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.
Now, it was time to bid the seasoned pilot a final farewell. Amid quiet tears and folded hands, the mortal remains of Kapoor were consigned to flames at the Punjabi Bagh crematorium.
With the body not taken to the Kapoor residence, family and friends gathered at the crematorium ground to pay their last respects.
Several mourners recalled Kapoor, who was in his 50s, as a warm-hearted neighbour and a committed professional whose sudden death has left the locality in shock.
His close friend, Araving Kumar, said Kapoor was deeply involved in the community, always willing to help others. “Sumit was a very good man and an affable neighbour. We used to meet every 10 to 15 days during our walks,” Kumar said.
“He had a loving wife, a son who is also a pilot, a daughter-in-law and a grandchild. He was building a house in this neighbourhood and was staying on rent nearby for the time being,” he added.
Kumar said the news of the crash came as a complete shock to residents.
“We came to know about it only after watching the news around 10 in the morning. We could not even imagine that our friend was flying that plane. He used to sit with us, talk to everyone and always helped people. He was truly a very good man,” he said.
Kapoor, who had a flying experience of 15,000 hours, was the pilot-in-command of the ill-fated aircraft that crashed on Wednesday.
Besides Pawar and Kapoor, the crash also killed co-pilot Captain Shambhavi Pathak, Personal Security Officer Vidip Jadhav and flight attendant Pinky Mali.
