Hubli: The Congress hinted at ‘intentional tampering’ with the special flight in which Rahul Gandhi was travelling to Hubli.
The Congress scion was travelling to Hubli from New Delhi, along with his aide Kaushal Vidyarthee, Rampreet Rahul Ravi and SGP official Rahul Gautam, when the flight suddenly developed a technical snag.
An official complaint letter has been sent to Karnataka Director General of Police and Inspector General of police, demanding investigation into the incident.
Explaining the ordeal, the complaint mentioned, “The flight, which took off from New Delhi around 9:20 a.m., faced unexpected technical errors. At around 10: 45 a.m. the flight suddenly tilted heavily on the left side and the altitude dipped steeply, combined with the violent shuddering of the aircraft body. It is to be stated that the weather outside was sunny, normal and not windy as per observation of the passengers and as per the forecast for the day.”
“It was also learnt that the autopilot of the aircraft was not functioning. After two attempts, the plane finally landed at Hubli around 11:25 a.m. while continuously shaking and making unusual audible sounds,” read the complaint.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Sujrewala reiterated the demand for a serious investigation. “What happened to Rahul Gandhi’s plane is a serious case of aviation mechanics failure. The Congress party demands that it be seriously investigated. A complaint letter has been written to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to look at all aspects of the matter, including that of possible foul play,” he said.
However, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ruled out foul play and clarified that the incident occurred due to the technical snag.
“It was snag of autopilot mode and pilot shifted to manual mode and landed safely. Such autopilot incidents are not uncommon,” the DGCA statement read.
