Former Maharashtra Health Minister Tanaji Sawant's son Rishiraj (32) is making the headlines for the past two days over his purported abduction. After his return, he told the Pune Police that he had taken a chartered flight to Bangkok for a "business trip" with two of his friends, Praveen Upadhye and Sandip Vasekar. When asked why he did not inform his family about it, he reportedly said they would have disapproved of his trip as he had recently visited Dubai.

According to police sources, the chartered plane had been booked for a one-way journey to Bangkok. A payment of ₹65 lakh was made on February 9. The aircraft, stationed in Mumbai, arrived in Pune at 1:30pm on February 10 and departed for Bangkok at 4:35pm. The planned route took the flight over Visakhapatnam and was then to enter Myanmar's airspace. However, due to a pending clearance, the aircraft was rerouted via Malaysia, extending the travel time by an hour. This delay provided a window for authorities to intervene before the aircraft entered deep international airspace.

During this time, Sawant contacted Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol. At the same time, police were prompted to file a kidnapping case at Sinhgad Road Police Station.

After intervention from the higher officials, the first call requesting the plane to be brought back to Pune was made at approximately 6pm. Reportedly, it took 20 to 30 minutes for them to assess the situation. By 6:35pm, the pilot was given instructions to return to Pune. However, strict orders were given to keep the passengers unaware of the route change.

For this, all maps, in-flight displays and passenger-accessible navigation screens were turned off to prevent them from realising they were not flying to Bangkok and instead were heading back to Pune. During this time, they were also served dinner, including chicken shawarma, dal and rice.

When the plane landed in Pune at 8:45pm, Rishiraj was "shocked and angry". As soon as the flight landed, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel boarded the plane and escorted all three passengers for questioning.

It has also come to light that even if Rishiraj and his friends had landed in Bangkok, they would not have been allowed to enter. Central agencies had coordinated with authorities in Thailand and asked them to send the trio back to India without completing immigration formalities.