The incident occured around 7.30 pm, when the aircraft started rolling in for take-off. The plane was going to take-off from secondary runway 27/09, when the pilot noticed the headlights of a vehicle.

“The commander of the aircraft noticed an orange light and a set of red lights at the end of the runway,” a Kingfisher spokesperson said. The pilot immediately informed the ATC and the Apron Operation Command Centre and rejected the take-off, before safely taxiing back to the bay.

“Seeing the lights from more than a distance of 2 km, the pilot might have felt the vehicle was parked on the runway,” Arun Arora, of DIAL’s corporate communications said.

However, when DIAL’s follow-me vehicle went to check, it found the Delhi Police gypsy was parked at a comfortable distance, in the service area at the end of the secondary runway. This area is close to the Air Force technical area, from where VIPs board aircraft. President Pratibha Patil was scheduled to fly on Sunday.

“Upon investigation, it was found that a police vehicle was positioned on the Service Road near the runway 27 threshold, with its head lights and red beacon switched on. It was an authorised police vehicle operating on an approved service road, due to VIP movement in the adjacent technical area. At no time was it on the runway nor did it pose a risk to any aircraft,” Arora said.

The Kingfisher flight subsequently departed at 8.17 pm. DIAL has sent a detailed report to the DGCA. DIAL’s follow-me vehicle told personnel in the Delhi Police Gypsy to switch off their lights so that the pilots are not distracted.

“We have been handling VIP security for a long time and our officers know the exact procedure to follow. When nothing wrong was done, there is no point of taking action against anyone,” a senior Delhi Police officer said.