Man gets violent on Air India flight; cabin crew get help from 10 passengers to restrain him

The Delhi Police has registered a case against a Nepal national for abusing a cabin crew member onboard and breaking the lavatory door inside the Air India flight after taking off from Toronto, officials said.

According to the First Information Report, the cabin supervisor, Aditya Kumar, said a passenger named Mahesh Singh Pandit, a resident of Nepal, changed his seat from 26E to 26F and started abusing the economy class crew members.

The cabin supervisor in his FIR also mentioned that they were able to restrain the accused passenger with the help of 10 other passengers. But they later got the information that the accused was trying to beat other passengers.

In his complaint, Mr Kumar said after the passenger started abusing the crew members, they informed the pilot in command and gave him an oral warning. Later, after lunch service, the smoke alarm sounded. When he opened the lavatory door, he caught the passenger with a cigarette lighter and smelled smoke.

"When I opened the door in front of the passenger, he pushed me back and ran to his seat 26F. When I tried to stop him, he pushed me and abused me also. Later he broke the LAV door 3F-RC. Then I informed the captain immediately and as per captain's instruction with the help of cabin crew Punit Sharma and other four passengers we tried to restrain him as per SOP," Mr Kumar added.

"With the help of 10 passengers and two cabin crew, we successfully restrained the accused passenger. After that I came back to my allotted first class but got the information that he is still trying to beat the passengers," he said.

Delhi Police registered a case under sections 323/506/336 Indian Penal Code and 22,23,25 Aircraft rules at IGI Police station.

Further investigation into the matter is in progress.

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