Slipper assault by MP: Delhi police reach airport to record statements

Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad assaulted an Air India employee with slipper after he his business class ticket was changed to economy class.

Officials from the Delhi Police Crime Branch reached the Delhi airport on Monday morning to identify witnesses in the case of assault registered against Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad, who was forced to take a train from Delhi after all major airlines in the country put him on their no-fly list for allegedly assaulting a senior Air India official.

Heavy security at IGI airport on March 24, a day after MP Ravindra Gaikwad's return ticket to Pune was cancelled by domestic airlines in protest against his ‘slipper assault’ of an Air India official on Thursday. (Burhaan Kinu/HT FILE)

Sources in the police said that the team has gone to the airport to record statements of the people who witnessed the assault. Police said that if the witnesses do not come forward to record their statements, they will examine the duty chart to identify the staff that was on board on the day of the incident.

“The police request the eyewitness to come fore and record their statements else we will access the duty chart to see who was on duty that day who may have witnessed the episode. This will include the airline staff, co-passengers and other crew,”a police officer said.

The police have also accessed the list of passengers who were on the plane that day along with details of passengers who were sitting next to Gaikwad. “Passengers will be able to give a detailed version of how things unfolded. We have their names and request to come forward to give a statement,” a police officer said.

Gaikwad, who had on Thursday abused and assaulted a 60-year-old duty manager of the national carrier with slippers over not being able to fly business class despite having boarded an all-economy Pune-New Delhi flight, had not reached his home at Umarga in Osmanabad district till 9pm on Saturday even as his supporters and media persons gathered there.