Enraged flier lands up in custody after roughing official in Mumbai

Irate passengers who are prone to attacking airline crew or airport officials will need to watch their temper now. A flier who roughed up an Air India (AI) official because he was enraged with the inept way the airline was dealing with a delay learnt a hard lesson this Friday.

On March 12, an Air India Express Mumbai-Chennai flight IX 206 was to leave Mumbai at 6.30pm.“After the flight was pushed back from the bay, the captain of the flight found that the air-conditioning system of the flight was not functioning. So he came back to the bay and the passengers were deplaned,” says a source from AI explaining the delay. There were 171 passengers on board who were deplaned and taken to the transit lounge and given refreshments.

The airline told the passengers that the flight was next scheduled to leave at 2.30am on Saturday.“As time passed the passengers in the lounge started becoming restive. Around 11.30pm one of the passengers, Orvhal Monteria (35), a Mumbai businessman who was travelling with a female companion Linda Baptista, started abusing the AI assistant manager K Anil,” says the source.

Monteria then caught hold of the official and hit him. He then snatched the Passenger Announcement system from the manager’s hand and threw it on the floor. “A CISF official intervened and tried to control Monteria. Other passengers too tried to stop him,” says Jitendra Negi, senior commandant, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

The CISF guard then overpowered the passenger and segregated him. Monteria now started apologising for his bad behaviour but the CISF handed him over to the Sahar police.

“Yes, we have registered a case against the passenger and he has been remanded to judicial custody till March 17,” said Dilip Patil, senior PI, Sahar police station. The passenger was charged under sections 332 (causing hurt to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 353 (assault on public servant), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of Rs 50), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code.