By Shekhar Singh
New Delhi, Apr 25 (IANS): An Indian flier was accused by the American Airlines staff of urinating on a fellow passenger during a flight from New York to Delhi, but when the Delhi Police launched a probe into the alleged incident, they did not find any substantial evidence to support the accusations levelled by the airline, as per sources.
According to official sources, the police questioned multiple passengers who were on the same flight, but none of them were witness to the alleged incident.
"The co-passengers even provided written statements stating that they had no knowledge of any such occurrence. After this, the police approached the airline staff and asked them for their version of the events," the sources said.
Upon further questioning, the airline staff changed their initial claim from "urinating" to "misbehaving", alleging that the accused passenger had misbehaved with them.
Delhi Police have not taken the accused passenger into custody and the investigation is going on.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI Airport), Devesh Kumar Mahla, said that legal action is being taken for non-cognisable offences under the civil aviation rules against the passenger, who is a resident of Punjab.
"We have initiated action after receiving a complaint from the airline staff about the unruly behaviour of one passenger. However, there is no coraborative evidence or complaint given by the co-passengers regarding someone peeing on them yet," the officer said.
According to sources, the accused passenger, who was reportedly under the influence of alcohol, allegedly got engaged in an argument with a co-passenger on board American Airlines flight AA 292 and urinated on him.
After the plane landed at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport at around 9 p.m. on Sunday, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) apprehended the alleged 'unruly' passenger.
On November 26 last year, an intoxicated man had reportedly urinated on a female co-passenger in her seventies while on a business class Air India flight from New York to Delhi. The incident had made national headlines.
Another incident occurred on December 6, 2022, in an Air India flight from Paris to New Delhi in which a male passenger allegedly relieved himself on a vacant seat and blanket belonging to a female passenger while she was using the lavatory.