NEW DELHI: Five Congress MPs including party general secretary KC Venugopal on Tuesday wrote to civil aviation minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, urging a “comprehensive and time-bound investigation” into what they described as “serious safety lapses” on an Air India flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi on August 10.In his letter, co-signed by other MPs on board the flight, Venugopal detailed a series of events on AI2455, which departed over an hour late and faced “continuous turbulence” with passengers told to remain strapped in and no dinner service provided. He wrote that mid-flight the pilot announced a weather radar failure and diverted to Chennai, despite Bengaluru and Coimbatore being closer.According to Venugopal, the aircraft circled for over an hour before a “heart-stopping” aborted landing. “When the aircraft was only 30-40 feet above the runway, the pilot suddenly aborted landing and executed a steep climb… reportedly another aircraft was on the runway,” he wrote, praising the captain’s “skill and quick judgment” for averting “a potential disaster”. He accused Air India of later portraying the MPs’ account as “false and misleading”, warning that the airline’s denial and lack of transparency “undermines public trust” and “creates an impression that passenger safety concerns are being downplayed or concealed”.Venugopal’s account follows an earlier public statement on X that “we were saved by skill and luck” and that “passenger safety cannot depend on luck”. He called on the Ministry to strengthen diversion protocols, ensure truthful communication, and make the investigation findings public.Air India, however, has rejected the suggestion of a near-collision, saying the diversion was precautionary due to a suspected weather radar malfunction. It said Chennai was chosen over Bengaluru as weather there was clear, and that the aircraft circled to burn fuel before landing. According to the airline, the first approach was aborted after Air Traffic Control reported suspected foreign object debris on the runway, with no emergency declared.The Directorate General of Civil Aviation said the radar transreceiver was later replaced, although no deficiency was found. It confirmed the aircraft orbited northeast of Chennai for 43 minutes before a missed approach was ordered due to a departing Gulf Air flight reporting debris. No debris was found, and AI2455 landed safely on the second attempt.BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya accused Venugopal of potentially spreading falsehoods and suggesting he face consequences if his claims are untrue.