Bengaluru doctor ‘threatens to crash’ plane, offloaded from Air India Express flight

A passenger — a 36-year-old female doctor and resident of Shivanahalli, near Yelahanka in Bengaluru — was offloaded by police due to her alleged misbehaviour with cabin crew members and for reportedly threatening to crash the Air India Express flight earlier this week.

The incident took place on flight IX2749, which was scheduled to take off from Surat International Airport to Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) around 2:30 pm on Tuesday.

The confrontation began when the female passenger, Vyas Hiral Mohanbhai, left her baggage midway in the aisle while grabbing her seat at 20F. When the crew requested her to remove the bag and place it in the overhead compartment near her seat, she refused and instead demanded that the crew members move it for her, NDTV reported, citing sources.

Despite multiple warnings from the crew and even an intervention by the pilot, Mohanbhai allegedly refused to cooperate and began behaving aggressively. She reportedly also yelled at fellow passengers who attempted to calm her down.

The situation escalated when she allegedly threatened to "crash the flight." Following this, the pilot and cabin crew alerted security and CISF personnel, who promptly escorted her off the aircraft.

The woman has been booked under sections 351 (4) (criminal intimidation by anonymous communication) and 353 (1)(b) (statements of public mischief) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita as well as section 3(1)(a) (act of violence against a person on board an aircraft in flight which is likely to endanger the safety of such aircraft) of the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act, the Indian Express reported.

In a separate incident on Tuesday, 22-year-old Sadaad Mohammad Baba from Srinagar allegedly tried to force his way through departure gate 8 at Terminal 1 of Bengaluru airport. When CISF personnel intervened to stop the unauthorised entry, Baba reportedly pushed one of the security staff members.