A report in The Hindu has claimed that a discreet enquiry into supposed malfunction of a flight ferrying Congress President Rahul Gandhi, has revealed that there was no foul play or criminal conspiracy, in the matter.
Famously in 26 April, it was alleged by Rahul Gandhi’s close aides and the Congress party that a chartered plane carrying their party president from New Delhi to Hubbali in Karnataka had suffered unexplained malfunctioning.
As per Rahul aide, the plane suddenly had a heavy tilt accompanied with a steep drop in altitude. He also alleged that the plane was shuddering violently, with the autopilot too not functioning.
Following this, the party proceeded to peddle conspiracy theories by alleging that the “suspicious and faulty performance of the aircraft” meant that “serious questions relating to intentional tampering” needed to be investigated.
This narrative though has suffered a dent, with The Hindu report claiming that the said discreet inquiry by intelligence agencies had found no foul play in the free fall and shuddering which Rahul’s plane is believed to have gone through.
As per the source quoted by the article, after the autopilot mechanism malfunctioned, the pilot was asked by the ATC to descend, which led to such a phenomenon. It also claimed that the DGCA was conducting a separate inquiry with regards to whether the plane’s instruments had developed a snag.
Concerning to the autopilot, it is being claimed that it was an erratic hydraulic system, which caused the issue.
Incidentally, just a day after the incident, a Times of India report too had quoted sources, who attributed the incident to the erring autopilot system. It had also negated the prospect of a mid air panic (as alleged by the Congress), as Rahul was informed about the snag only after the plane had landed, and that there was no panic among the co-passengers during the flight duration.