New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday lodged a complaint with the Karnataka police over what it called ‘unexplained malfunctioning’ of the 10-seater Dassault Falcon 2000 aircraft (VT-AVH) carrying party president Rahul Gandhi to Hubballi from New Delhi. The Congress also alleged it a conspiracy against the party president.

According to the complaint, filed by Rahul's close aide Kaushal K Vidyarthee, who was travelling with him, the aircraft suddenly tilted heavily on the left side and the altitude dipped steeply, combined with violent shuddering of the plane's body, during the course of the flight.

"It was unusual given that the weather outside was sunny and normal," the complaint, filed with Karnataka IG and DG NeelamaniRaju, stated and added that the clanking noise was audible from one side of the plane throughout the shuddering of the aircraft body and they claimed that the auto-pilot of the aircraft was not functioning.

Subsequently, an FIR was registered at the HubballiGokul Road police station by KPCC general secretary ShakirSanadi, holding pilots of the aircraft responsible for the incident.

The complainant maintained that the aircraft landed at the Hubballi airport on the third attempt as two earlier attempts had failed. During landing also, the plane was shaking and made unusual audible sounds. "The whole flight experience left all of us with anxiety and distress and positively fearing for their life. The crew was also petrified and admitted the plight was particularly frightening and uncommon," Vidyarthee said in the complaint.

"It was apparent from the suspicious and faulty performance of the aircraft that the incident of shuddering and altitude dipping were not natural or weather related but were due to some technical snags of the aircraft. Serious questions related to intentional tampering with the aircraft cannot also be brush aside and are required to be investigated," he added.