Congress chief Rahul Gandhi (File)
Congress party president Rahul Gandhi’s office on Thursday wrote to the Karnataka Police alleging “intentional tampering with the aircraft” carrying Gandhi and four others, which developed a snag and could land only in the third attempt in Hubli. Sources in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said the safety regulator will be examining the incident in detail.
In a letter written by Gandhi aide Kaushal Vidyarthee to the Director General & Inspector General of Police, Karnataka, it was alleged that a special aircraft with five people on board, including Rahul Gandhi, developed unexplained technical failures during the flight. The complaint said that the sudden shuddering of the aircraft and altitude dipping was not natural, but appeared to be a result of intentional tampering.
A DGCA source said it appears to be a snag of autopilot which led to this incident, but the regulator will investigate in detail. “Operator has reported the incident to us. As per operator report, it was snag of autopilot mode and pilot shifted to manual mode and landed safely. Shut of autopilot incidents are not uncommon. For any VIP flight DGCA examines it in detail.We shall do here also,” a source in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said.
As per the complaint to Karnataka Police, the whole flight experience left the passengers with a lot of stress and anxiety, positively fearing for their life. “Serious questions related to intentional tampering with the aircraft cannot also be brushed aside and are required to be addressed and investigated,” wrote Vidyarthee in the complaint.
Complaint to the DG&IG of Police, Karnataka, regarding the serious malfunction of the aircraft carrying Congress President @RahulGandhi pic.twitter.com/P3RJwkWOMR
— Congress (@INCIndia) April 26, 2018
The letter says that just before arriving at Hubli the plane suddenly tilted heavily on the left side and started losing altitude with violent shuddering and clanking noise audible from the side of the aircraft. The autopilot of the plane was also not working, the complaint says.