E-Paper
Passenger assaults staff at Pune airport
According to the airport police, the accused was granted bail on grounds that she was “mentally unwell”
The Pune police arrested a 24-year-old female passenger Gunjan Rajeshkumar Agarwal for allegedly assaulting a lady Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officer at the Pune airport on Sunday, officials said.
She was later released on bail by the court.
According to the airport police, the accused was granted bail on grounds that she was “mentally unwell”. Agarwal hails from West Bengal and is an IT engineer. She was travelling to West Bengal and got involved in a heated argument with a taxi driver over fare.
Since the taxi driver did not have a UPI app in his mobile, the accused refused to pay the fare. It was at this juncture that airport manager Bhakti Lulla and CISF staffers posted on duty intervened. Gunjan created chaos and argued with the manager and CISF inspector Rupali Thoke.
She allegedly slapped both of them and bit Inspector Thoke’s left thumb. Thoke lodged an FIR at Vimantal police station after which she was arrested under IPC sections 353, 332 and 504 . The incident caused inconvenience to other passengers who had queued up at the airport entrance.
Police inspector Vilas Sonde said, “The accused worked in Hinjewadi and had moved to Pune six months ago. She assaulted the airport staff. She was arrested and produced before the court which granted her bail .”
A flyer who witnessed the ruckus at the airport shared the experience on social media stating that the incident occurred around midnight. According to the passengers post, Agarwal refused to pay the cab driver and said she had a ₹2,000 note and no change. One staffer arranged for change, however, Agarwal started to throw tantrums and a CISF officer was brought. The passenger thrashed and bit the staffer who proceeded to summon the police.
Sanmeet Lagare, another individual tweeted, “Was dropping off my mom. Young girl didn’t just push the CISF lady, but slapped her, she got one right back nice and hard. Later there were 2 CISF ladies physically holding her until the cops arrived. Spoke to the cab driver, he mentioned she was a bit odd in the cab.” (sic)
