‘Kandahar hijack hero harassed me’

An Alliance Air airhostess on Thursday alleged harassment by Captain Devi Sharan, the pilot who flew the hijacked IC-814 to Kandahar in 1999.

The airhostess will file a detailed complaint with the National Commission for Women (NCW), seeking a probe against Sharan, who is now executive director (operations) with the airline. Sharan could not be contacted for his reaction to the allegation.

This is the second case this month of an airhostess levelling charges of harassment against Air India pilots.

According to the complaint, the captain had made indecent overtures to the airhostess while on a domestic flight in 1997. She claimed that she had rebuffed him. In March, when the captain was posted as executive director (operations) in Delhi, the airhostess alleged, he resumed the indecent advances. The airhostess said Sharan downgraded her as she spurned his advances.