Kanhaiya Kumar Says BJP Man And TCS Worker Tried To Strangle Him On Plane

Mumbai: Kanjaiya Kumar, the 28-year-old student arrested in February on charges of sedition, has alleged that a co-passenger on a flight from Mumbai to Pune tried to strangle him.

Mr Kumar says Manas Deka is a BJP supporter and Jet Airways and the police refused to take action against him and deplaned both of them.

Mr Deka, who is an employee of IT major TCS, dismissed the accusation as "a cheap publicity stunt" and says he tripped. "My leg is injured, I tripped and bumped into Kanhaiya," he told NDTV.

Both men were made to leave the plane at the Mumbai airport and Mr Kumar then travelled by road to Pune for a function.

Mr Kumar's team circulated a video which shows the men arguing. In a statement, Jet Airways later said some passengers were off loaded at Mumbai in the interest of "operational safety".

Mr Kumar, a student leader at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University or JNU, has tried to "malign" the BJP government in Maharashtra, said State Home Minister Ram Shinde, adding that an inquiry has been ordered.

Describing the matter as a "scuffle" in which eight people were involved, a senior police officer said Mr Kumar's account of the event was "exaggerated".

"When asked to file a complaint, Kanhaiya didn't file it... Whatever his friend alleged in a complaint has been found to be false," said senior police officer Deven Bharati.

Mr Kumar's arrest in February turned into an international headline with critics at home and abroad brandishing it as blatant over-reach by the government and a transparent attempt to crush dissent.

The government has denied the charges but Mr Kumar has vigorously attacked it and PM Modi in a series of speeches starting with a high-voltage address upon his release from jail.