A 37-year-old US citizen has been booked for allegedly smoking in the bathroom and misbehaving with other passengers on Air India London-Mumbai flight on March 11, police said.
The accused, identified as Ramakant, tried to open the door of the flight and had also said that he was carrying a bullet in his bag, the flight crew said. Mumbai Police, however, said that no such object was found in his bag.
People familiar with the matter told News18 that the alarm in flight rang when Ramakant was in washroom. When the crew members rushed towards the lavatory, Ramakant was seen with a cigarette in his hand.
Several co-passengers also complained that Ramakant harassed them.
According to sources from Mumbai police, Ramakant informed the crew that he was carrying some medicines in his bag, but nothing was found. They found an e-cigarette on him.
Mumbai police has charged Ramakant under Section 336 (whoever does any act so rashly or negligently as to endanger human life or the personal safety of others) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 22 (refuse to follow a lawful instruction given by the Pilot-in-Command), 23 (Assault and other acts endangering safety or jeopardizing good order and discipline) and 25 (for smoking) of the Aircraft Act, 1937.
They have also collected his samples for examination to confirm if he was in an inebriated condition or is mentally disturbed.
This incident comes days after a 24-year-old woman was arrested on arrival in Bengaluru after she was allegedly caught smoking in the toilet of an IndiGo flight from Kolkata.
According to a police complaint, the cabin crew suspected that Priyanka C, who was travelling on seat no 17F, was smoking mid-flight and asked her to open the toilet door. Upon inspection, the crew found a cigarette in the dustbin and put it out with water.
After landing at Kempegowda International Airport, the passenger was reportedly handed over to security officials and later taken to the airport police. This is as per the protocol put in place specifically for incidents of this sort– which happen a lot more often than one would think.
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