Indian minister accused of assault on airport chief
MUMBAI: A prominent government minister has been accused of assaulting an airport manager after he was stopped from boarding a flight that was already taxiing for takeoff.
Times of India reports MP, Akhilesh Prasad Singh, allegedly beat up the station manager of Kingfisher Airlines at Patna Airport on Monday after he was not allowed to board Patna-Kolkata flight.
A Kingfisher Airlines spokesperson, in a statement, alleged that the airport manager was assaulted, abused and had to bear a barrage of foul language from Singh.
The statement noted that Singh, who is Minister of State for Food, was scheduled to travel on flight IT 4580 from Patna to Kolkata.
The flight was scheduled to depart at 08:30pm and at 08:10pm, the Kingfisher Airlines staff at Patna Airport were informed by Singh’s travel agent that he would not be travelling on the flight.
At around 08:20pm after all the guests were on board, Patna ATC gave start-up and pushback clearance to the commander of the aircraft.
The aircraft had just begun taxiing when Singh reportedly landed at the airport 10 minutes before the scheduled departure of the flight, the statement said.
“Under the circumstances, considering the fact that the aircraft had began taxiing, our airport manager told Singh the same and regretted that he could not join the flight as we were told that he was not coming,” the statement said.
“That was when Singh assaulted and abused our airport manager in the VIP lounge in the presence of several witnesses,” Kingfisher Airlines said.
Ian Jarrett
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