India, Aug. 11 -- Air India on Monday rejected Congress MP KC Venugopal's claim that the Thiruvananthapuram-Delhi Air India plane carrying him and several other MPs saw a "heart-stopping" moment as another aircraft was reportedly on the same runway when it made its first attempt to land at Chennai Airport where the flight was diverted to.

Following Air India's clarification, KC Venugopal on Monday said the airline was "lying".

"That was a lie, Air India is lying. It was announced by captain only," Venugopal told ANI news agency.

KC Venugopal said the flight, with callsign AI 2455, hit turbulence shortly after takeoff from Thiruvananthapuram. According to Flightradar24.com, the flight took off at around 8 pm from Thiruvananthapuram and ...