American Airlines Urination Case: Delhi Police To Record Witness Statements

Delhi Police will record statements of witnesses, including passengers and crew members, on the American Airlines flight on which an inebriated Indian student allegedly urinated while asleep in his seat and soiled a male co-passenger, officials said on Monday.

The alleged incident occurred on flight AA292 from New York, which landed at Delhi airport at 9.50 pm on Saturday.

Based on a complaint from the airline, a case was registered and, as part of their ongoing investigation, investigators will record statements of the witnesses, including the passengers and the crew members, on the flight, a senior Delhi Police official said.

The airline also submitted a complaint to Delhi Police, addressing the T-3, IGI Airport, SHO.

"....Upon aircraft arrival, purser informed that passenger was heavily intoxicated, was not adhering to crew instructions on board. He was repeatedly arguing with operating crew, was not willing to be seated and continuously endangering safety of crew and aircraft and after disturbing safety of fellow passengers, finally urinated on (the other) passenger...," the complaint stated.

The airline mentioned that it had cancelled the student's return ticket and barred him from future travel on its flights.

In a statement on Sunday, the airline had said that the flight was "met by local enforcement upon arrival in Delhi due to a disruptive customer" but did not provide specific details about the incident.

Delhi airport DCP Devesh Kumar Mahla had said a complaint of urination on a co-passenger was received from American Airlines against one person, who is a student in the US. The accused is a resident of Defence Colony in the national capital.

"We have registered a case under sections 510 (misconduct in public by a drunken person) and 294 (punishment for obscene acts or words in public) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 22 and 23 of the Civil Aviation Act. The accused joined the probe along with his father. He was released after interrogation. He has not been arrested in the case yet as further investigation in the matter is still underway," he said.

The male victim was not keen on reporting the matter to the police after the student apologised to him as it might put his career in jeopardy, a source told PTI.

However, the airline took the matter seriously and reported it to the Air Traffic Control at the airport.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)