Patna:
Two passengers on a Delhi-Patna IndiGo flight were arrested on Sunday evening by the Patna airport police. With the help of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) for consuming alcohol, which is prohibited, on a domestic flight. Sources said there was no ruckus during the 80-minute-long flight and the accused stopped and apologized when a crew member intervened.
As per protocol, the airline notified air traffic controllers and they were arrested on arrival, sources said.
Bihar Additional Director General (ADG) Jitendra Singh Gangwar. Said the CISF took them into custody and later handed them over. To the airport police, after which a breath analysis test confirmed that both the passengers were drunk.
IndiGo, in a tweet, clarified that there was no altercation in the flight.
“Regarding the incident that took place on 6E 6383 from Delhi to Patna, the matter is under investigation with the authorities. We would like to clarify that there was no altercation in the aircraft, as is being reported in some sections of the social media,” it said.
Sources in civil aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Said that a passenger informed the crew that some people were drinking beer inside the flight. They were a group of six. The crew intervened and informed the pilot of the empty can in the seat pocket. The two passengers confessed and were handed over to security along with relevant documents, they added.
CISF sources said the two passengers were “in disguise” and consumed alcohol while boarding the flight. “They tried to consume alcohol en route to Patna. When the passengers next to them smelled alcohol. The matter was brought to the notice of the IndiGo staff, and the two passengers were handed over to the CISF in Patna,” they said.
It comes days after Mumbai man Shankar Mishra was arrested for urinating on a woman on an Air India New York-Delhi flight last month. Creating a huge furor over the six-week delay in action against him. Social media users expressed shock and disgust at the airline’s handling of the incident. Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran later admitted that Air India’s response should have been quicker. “We failed to deal with this situation the way we should have dealt with it,” Mr Chandrasekaran said in a statement on Sunday.
Air India CEO Campbell Wilson also apologized and said four cabin crew. And one pilot had been de-rostered and the airline was reviewing its “in-flight alcohol service policy”.
