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Indian bizman, cook land in Delhi aboard Zambia evacuation plane
Rajnish Gupta, 47, a businessman who has business interests and an apartment in Lusaka, was travelling with Baheliya, his cook. He had managed to convince Zambian authorities to let him fly in on the special flight, which landed in Delhi via Muscat.
When a Royal Air Charters special flight landed in New Delhi on Wednesday to ferry back Zambian nationals from the Capital and Mumbai, it had on board two passengers who were not supposed to be there -- an Indian businessman and his cook.
The special evacuation flight was allowed by India’s ministry of home affairs (MHA) to fly back 39 persons including Zambian diplomat Steven Simasandu to Lusaka, but officials at the airport were surprised when the flight, which was supposed to be empty except for the crew, landed with Rajnish Gupta and Suresh Kumar Baheliya, according to people directly familiar with the matter.
Gupta, 47, a businessman who has business interests and an apartment in Lusaka, was travelling with Baheliya, his cook. He had managed to convince Zambian authorities to let him fly in on the special flight, which landed in Delhi via Muscat. Gupta told the officials at the airport that he was in Lusaka for work when the lockdown was enforced and that he managed to persuade Zambian government authorities that he had to be back in India.
It wasn’t immediately clear how Gupta managed to convince Zambian authorities to let him travel to India. The Zambian High Commission did not respond to calls seeking comment.
More than 300,000 Indians are stuck around the world on account of the lockdown and the cancellation of all flights. Starting Thursday, the Indian government is running a massive evacuation operation to get many of them back to India. On Tuesday, the government said it would run 64 flights in the first week, starting Thursday, to fly around 15,000 Indians back home. According to guidelines issued for the operation, preference was to be given to those with expiring visas, people who were laid off, the elderly, students, pregnant women, and people with family medical emergencies.
When the plane landed at about 2pm on Wednesday, Indian authorities were shocked to find the two Indians on board because the Directorate general of Civil aviation (DGCA) permit had no mention of any incoming Indian passenger. HT has reviewed a copy of the note .
Till evening, the flight, which was to take on Zambians from Delhi and then fly to Mumbai where more Zambians were to board, was waiting on the tarmac, with Gupta and Baheliya next to it.
“Someone can’t just get on a plane like this illegally and come here,’’ said a DGCA official. “He will not be allowed to get off the flight.’’
But therein lay the big dilemma for the officials.
“He (Gupta) is an Indian citizen after all and so we can’t send him back,’’ said an immigration official.
And so, as the discussions raged Wednesday evening, Gupta stood on the tarmac, closely watched by two security guards.
“Even if he manages to stay back in India, he will face action and will be taken straight to quarantine,’’ said an airport official.
After consultations with the Ministry of External Affairs, the immigration officials issued a show cause notice to the two passengers. The CISF which guards the airport were officially told to put the two back on the flight. However, the two were refusing to budge. The Zambian passengers were left waiting till shortly after 11pm, when a quick response team of 20 people surrounded Gupta and forced him onto the plane. Late on Wednesday night, the plane took off for Mumbai to pick up the rest of the passengers before heading to Zambia.
The Delhi Airport spokesperson said that he had no information about the incident. HT also contacted the Foreigner Registration Offices which handles the immigration department under the home ministry but there was no response.
