AI staffer assault: Delhi Police register FIR against Shiv Sena MP

New Delhi, March 24

The Delhi Police on Friday registered an FIR against Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad for assaulting an Air India staffer and transferred the case to its Crime Branch.

Gaikwad has been charged with attempt to commit culpable homicide and using criminal force with intent to dishonour person, said Dependra Pathak, Delhi Police’s chief spokesperson and special commissioner (operations).

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Gaikwad, on his part, today filed a complaint with DCP (Airport) Sanjay Bhatia alleging misbehaviour by Air India officials.

Pathak said Gaikwad’s complaint has been sent for legal examination.

“We had received two complaints — one from Air India and the other from the victim, respectively. They were sent for legal opinion and following that, we have registered an FIR.

“For a detailed and thorough probe, we have transferred the case to the Crime Branch,” said Pathak.

Gaikwad, the Lok Sabha MP from Osmanabad in Maharashtra, hit 60-year-old duty manager R Sukumar “25 times” with his sandal, when the official persuaded him to disembark after the plane landed at the IGI airport here from Pune.

The MP refused to alight, holding up the aircraft for over 40 minutes Yesterday.

Yesterday, the Delhi Police said they were seeking legal opinion on the matter and the FIR was lodged today after obtaining the same.

After Air India snub, IndiGo cancels ticket

Earlier in the day, national carrier Air India cancelled the Pune flight ticket of the Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad for assaulting one of its staffers at Delhi airport, while budget carrier IndiGo also refused to take him on board.

The Sena MP had booked a ticket on IndiGo flight to Pune for this evening, which has been cancelled by the airline, sources said.

“He had booked on IndiGo’s fight today at 1750 hours from Delhi to Pune. But the airline has cancelled the booking and is refunding the entire amount,” the source said.

The Sena MP has been barred from flying by four private Indian carriers after his brazen assault on the Air India officer.

The Federation of Indian Airlines, which has Jet Airways, IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir as its members, has taken a “strong view of the incident and accordingly taken a decision to bar Gaikwad from flying”, an FIA source said.

In a related development, Tata-SIA joint venture carrier Vistara also joined the national carrier Air India and the four private carriers’ decision to ban Gaikwad from flying.

Disruptive and abusive behaviour by passengers is a serious issue and cannot be tolerated, both for safety and security reasons in a critical and sensitive industry such as aviation, as well for the safety and well-being of our staff and all other passengers, a Vistara spokesperson said.

“We support the statement made by Air India and the FIA, and are in full solidarity with them in support of the ban. “The concerned individual will be barred from flying on any of our flights with immediate effect,” the spokesperson said.

The airline also supports the promulgation of a “no-fly” list and concurs with the FIA and Air India in seeking the support of the government and security agencies to enforce such a directive whereby passengers on the “no-fly list” will not be permitted to fly on any of the airlines, Vistara said.

Sena defends Gaikwad

The Sena on Friday came out to defend its MP Gaikwad saying that everyone loses their temper at some point of time.

 “FIR has been filed against him, but even Air India needs to make changes in their system. The condition of the flight is not very good. We will talk to our MP, will listen to what he has to say and will see about it. Be it a MP or a normal person, everyone loses his temper at some point of time,” Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut told ANI in Mumbai.

Raut also added that there are number of people who should be blacklisted, who is responsible for bringing Air India to this position and due to which it is facing loss.

“We are not supporting the act of our MP, this is not a culture of our party,” he added.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of state for law and justice P.P. Chaudhary said that one cannot be barred from travelling or cannot be denied giving ticket.

 “There is no law that bars anyone from travelling anywhere or denying a ticket. If someone has committed a crime, he can be punished, but denying a ticket is seriously wrong,” Chaudhary said. — PTI/ANI