Rediff

Patna, Nov 4: Union Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal parliamentarian 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 as he reported late at the airport.

A Kingfisher Airlines spokesperson, in a statement on Monday night, alleged that the airport manager was assaulted, abused and had to bear a barrage of foul language from Singh, without any provocation.

As per the statement, 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 08:30 pm and at 08:10 pm, 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 08:20 pm after all passengers were on board, Patna ATC gave start-up and push-back clearance to the commander of the aircraft.

The aircraft had just begun taxiing when Singh reportedly landed at the airport i.e. 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.