India union Civil Aviation Minister Ajit has said that the Air India should not have been misused in an incidence in which the state-run airline had to deploy a large aircraft just to accommodate the family members of its then political head, Praful Patel in 2010.

Air India ordered to fly a larger aircraft in April 2010 for accommodating then Union civil aviation minister Praful Patel’s family members on a return trip from Bangalore to Maldives, according to files disclosed by the national carrier indicate.

It is disclosed that as the seven business class seats on the IC-965 flight scheduled to fly from Bangalore to Male, the airline had to deploy A320, with 20 business class seats just to accommodate seven members of in-laws of Patel's daughter Avni.

Air India was reluctant to disclose the passenger list even after the orders of the CIC. It provided the details only after it was slapped with a show cause notice for non-compliance. The list includes the names of seven family members including Congress leader R V Deshpande, Radha Deshpande, Prasad Deshpande, Meghna Deshpande and Master Dhruv besides Avni and her husband, Prashant Deshpande.

Air India disclosed the information following a petition by RTI activist Subhash Agrawal.