US-NRI booked for smoking, rowdiness on AI London-Mumbai flight

Mumbai, March 12: An unruly passenger flying on an Air India London-Mumbai flight was tied up on his seat for allegedly smoking in the aircraft toilet, misbehaving with passengers, attempting to yank open the door mid-air, and finally landed in the arms of the Mumbai Police, officials said here on Sunday.

The passenger has been identified as one Ratnakar Trivedi, 37, a US NRI and the shocking incident happened on the AI flight which landed here Saturday morning.

As his behaviour seemed to go out of control, the AI flight crew managed to pin him down, dumped him on his seat and tied up his hands and legs for the remainder of his journey.

The AI crew told the police that the passenger behaved in a wild and uncontrolled manner aboard the flight, he was detected smoking in the toilet as the smoke-alarm went off, though smoking is banned on Indian flights.

When the crew accosted him and threw away the cigarette, he started screaming and abusing at the flight crew and at one point, Trivedi tried to open the door of the aircraft mid-air, scaring other fliers.

Later, as a precaution, the crew members managed to pin him down and tied him up on his seat where he remained till the flight landed here.

One of the co-passengers, who was a medico, came and examined him to ascertain whether he was misbehaving in a drunken state or had some mental condition, while the police have sent his samples to the lab and the test reports are awaited.

Meanwhile, the Sahar Police, which detained Trivedi, has lodged a case against him invoking various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Aircraft Act.