New Delhi/Bangalore, April 27: The country's civil aviation regulator on Friday said that it has set up a two-member panel to investigate into the cause of a snag reported in the aircraft which ferried Congress President Rahul Gandhi to Hubballi in Karnataka on Thursday.
According to a senior official with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), a "Falcon 2000 aircraft VT-AVH was involved in an incident while operating flight" from New Delhi to Hubballi.
"Operator has reported the incident to DGCA. As per operator report, it was snag of autopilot mode and pilot shifted to manual mode and aircraft landed safely. Autopilot failure incidents are not uncommon," a senior DGCA official told IANS in New Delhi.
"For any VIP flight DGCA investigates thoroughly. DGCA has set up a two member committee."
However, Hubballi Airport Director Ahilya S. Kakodikar said that no complaint has been received from the pilot of an aircraft which reportedly developed a snag when Gandhi was flying in it on Thursday.
"Neither the pilot nor the air traffic control (ATC) complained to me about the snag," Hubballi airport Director Ahilya S. Kakodikar told reporters.
The director of the airport, which is managed by the state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI), also stressed that the aircraft had landed safely.
"It was a safe landing. In case of any abnormalities, the ATC would have recorded it," she said.
The Congress on Thursday complained to the Karnataka Police that the Falcon 2000 aircraft in which Gandhi and four others flew to Hubballi, about 400km northwest of state capital Bengaluru, from Delhi had suffered a mid-air snag.
The complaint, addressed to the state's Director General of Police Neelamani N. Raju, requested the state police chief to "ground" the aircraft at Hubballi and investigate the malfunction.
Based on the complaint by Congress official Shakir Sanadi, the police in Hubballi lodged a First Information Report late on Thursday.
Gandhi arrived in Hubballi around 11.25 a.m. on Thursday on a two-day visit to the state to launch the party's campaign for the May 12 assembly elections.
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Standing firmly with armed forces; time for unity, solidarity: Congress
New Delhi(PTI): This is a time for unity and solidarity and the Congress is standing firmly with the armed forces, the party said on Wednesday as Indian armed forces carried out missile strikes on terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said India's commitment to eliminating all sources of terrorism in Pakistan and PoK has necessarily to be uncompromising and always be anchored in the supreme national interest.
"This is a time for unity and solidarity. Right from the night of April 22nd, the Congress has been categorically stating that the government will have our fullest support in the nation's response to the Pahalgam terror attack," he said.
"The Congress is standing firmly with our armed forces," Ramesh said on X, using the hashtag "Operation Sindoor".
In retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack, Indian armed forces carried out missile strikes early Wednesday on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, including the Jaish-e-Mohammad stronghold of Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba's base Muridke.
The military strikes were carried out under Operation Sindoor two weeks after the massacre of 26 civilians in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam.
"A little while ago, the Indian armed forces launched 'Operation Sindoor' hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed," the defence ministry said in a statement at 1.44 am.
It said the actions by the Indian armed forces have been "focused, measured and non-escalatory" in nature and that no Pakistani military facilities have been targeted.
"प्रहाराय सन्निहिताः, जयाय प्रशिक्षिताः"
— ADG PI - INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) May 6, 2025
Ready to Strike, Trained to Win.#IndianArmy pic.twitter.com/M9CA9dv1Xx
