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Bobby Kataria of viral smoking video now claims it was a dummy plane; 'How can you take lighter?'
Bobby Kataria now claimed the plane inside which he was seen smoking was part of his Dubai shoot and not a normal plane. SpiceJet, however, issued a detailed statement that the video was shot on a Dubai-Delhi flight on the 21st row and the cabin crew and the passengers were not aware of it.
Social media star Bobby Kataria denied putting the lives of passengers at risk by his smoking act and said it was not a normal airplane, but a dummy one that was a part of his shooting. He said he knew that taking a lighter inside the plane is not allowed, news agency ANI quoted the bodybuilder who came under fire after he was caught on the wrong side of the law in two of his viral videos. Bobby has also dismissed any involvement in the video in which he was seen drinking liquor at a busy street in Dehradun. He told the news agency that he does not even remember when the video was shot.
The Haryana-based bodybuilder who is famous on Instagram for his videos evoked a sharp response from Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and the civil aviation authorities after a video of Bobby smoking inside a plane went viral. While the minister said that there will be no tolerance towards hazardous action like this, SpiceJet issued a statement clarifying that action was taken against Bobby Kataria when the incident took place.
"The video, the investigation had revealed, was shot on January 20, 2022, while passengers were boarding flight SG 706 scheduled to operate from Dubai to Delhi. The said passenger and his co-passengers shot the video on the 21st row when the cabin crew were occupied with completing the on-boarding procedure. None of the passengers or crew was aware of the act," SpiceJet said. Bobby Kataria was put on a no flying list by the airline for 15 days.
"I want to ask everyone: how can a lighter make its way into an airplane? It would be detected by a scanner. A cigarette still one can carry, but not a lighter. It was shot in 2019 or 2020," Kataria said.
On the viral video where he can be seen blocking the Mussoorie-Kimadi road and drinking liquor in public, Bobby Kataria said, "I do not even remember when was it recorded and even that must have been a part of my shoot, I did not consume alcohol and that video is not from Uttarakhand."
Dehradun Police registered a case against Kataria under sections 342 (Wrongful confinement), 336 (rash and negligent act), 290 (public nuisance) and 510 (misconduct by drunken person) of the Indian Penal Code, and section 67 (publishing material online that tends to deprave and corrupt persons) of the Information Technology Act.
(With inputs from agencies)
