Our Correspondent
The Delhi Police today registered an FIR against Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad for assaulting an Air India staffer and transferred the case to its Crime Branch.
Delhi Police chief spokesperson and special commissioner (operations) Dependra Pathak said a case has been registered under sections 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 355 (assault or criminal force with intent to dishonour person) of IPC. He said the case is being transfered to Crime Branch for a thorough probe.
Gaikwad, the Lok Sabha MP from Maharashtra’s Osmanabad slapped 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,New-Delhi from Pune. The MP refused to alight, holding up the aircraft for over 40 minutes yesterday. Police received two complaints in this regard- one from Air India and the other from Sukumar.
Seven airlines including state owned AIR India have barred Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad from flying, for allegedly assaulting an Air India officer. The Federation of Indian Airlines, which has Jet Airways, IndiGo, SpiceJet, AirAsia and GoAir as its members has decided to blacklist Gaikwad who admitted to his unruly behaviour with Air Indian staffer.
The incident took place on Thursday morning inside Air India’s Pune- Delhi flight AI 852, when the aircraft landed in Delhi. Mr Gaikwad refused to disembark despite attempts of persuading him to do so. An Air India official also tried to pacify the MP, who vociferously complained about the morning flight to Delhi from Pune, not having business class.
Meanwhile, taking serious note of Gaikwad’s behavior Shiv Sena has asked him to give an explanation over the issue. Shivsena President Uddhav Thackeray also sought AIR INDIA’s version over the incident. Speaking to media in Mumbai yesterday, Shiv Sena Spokesperson Manisha Kayande stated that the party does not subscribe to any such reaction.