On Saturday morning, the Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad, reached Mumbai from New Delhi after taking a train for the trip. The Minister had submitted an apology letter to the Aviation minister A.G. Raju expressing his regret over the incident of assault.
The government on Friday had ordered Air India to lift the ban that has been in place for 15 days on the Osmanabad MP Gaikwad who on March 23 had assaulted a flight manager on the Mumbai – Delhi AI flight. The MP also boasted about this assault on the national television. After this incident, apart from Air India, multiple airlines banned the minister from flying with them.
Amidst all this, there was news of AI canceling the tickets booked on the name of Gaikwad at least seven times. The minister however denied this and claimed that he never attempted to book tickets with any airlines. The minister also said to the news agency ANI that there were seven instances of air tickets being booked by his name and the airlines cancelling them. He said, ”I did not do it. Who did? I have raised the issue in Parliament.”
Also speaking about the incident, Gaikwad said, “Woh aadmi (AI official that Gaikwad assaulted) Pagal hai, uske khilaaf aise 8 cases hain jhagda karne ke – The AI staffer is mad, he has eight similar cases registered against him.”
After the government’s order about lifting of the ban, Air India employees union has issued a statement that the ban should be lifted only if Gaikwad issues an ‘unconditional apology’ and also written assurance of “cabin safety and public behavior.”
