Air India said it will create a list of "unruly passengers" featuring Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad.
Highlights
- Ravindra Gaikwad, Sena MP, hit Air India manager with sandal
- Demands apology from the manager he assaulted
- Air India has filed 2 cases; "dare Delhi police to arrest me," he says
Ravindra Gaikwad, the Shiv Sena MP who decided that not being able to fly business class merited a lengthy assault on an airline employee, says he's the wronged party. The former school teacher wants Air India to be investigated for ill-treating him. This after he told reporters that he used his sandal to hit a 60-year-old Air India manager 25 times. The Shiv Sena this evening justified not taking any action against him, despite a large shower of his abuse being filmed. Air India has filed two police cases against him and all airlines have banned him.
Here are the 10 latest developments in this story:
"I dare the Delhi police to arrest me...I will not apologise, he (Air India manager) must come to me and apologise," Mr Gaikwad told reporters yesterday, claiming that "a 60-year-old man must know how to behave" and suggesting that his party will stand by him.
A group of airlines banned the politician "with immediate effect." Air India and then Indigo cancelled his return ticket to Pune today from Delhi, after which he took a train to Mumbai.
The MP refused to disembark from the plane for nearly 45 minutes after he landed on Thursday morning in Delhi from Pune.
An Air India manager- Sukumar Raman - boarded the plane to persuade the MP to exit the plane. He was then hit repeatedly. In his letter of complaint, the manager wrote of being humiliated publicly, his buttons being ripped off his shirt, and his glasses being broken during the sustained abuse.
The politician says that despite booking an Air India business class ticket, he was made to fly economy. Air India says it had informed his office that the flight the MP had chosen operates entirely with economy seats- there is no business class.
Mr Gaikwad has asked Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju to investigate Air India.
Both Mr Raju and Ms Mahajan said MPs cannot break the law and that they are looking into the case.
The airline has filed two police cases against the MP for physical assault and for delaying a flight - the jet could not take off for its next destination because the politician refused to exit. 150 passengers were kept waiting.
Air India and other airlines stressed the need to collate a "no-fly list" featuring Mr Gaikwad and others who they will not entertain. They want the government's help in enforcing the ban.
In response to the MP being banned by Air India and other airlines, Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena said, "Air India should worry about being blacklisted by the public."
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