4 days Ago
Surat: A 37-year-old man was arrested at Surat International Airport on Thursday evening for smoking a bidi inside an aircraft toilet. The incident occurred on the Surat-Kolkata IndiGo flight at about 5.30pm when the aircraft was being checked before take off.
The IndiGo crew and airport security staff handed over Ashok Biswas to Dumas police, who arrested him for endangering human lives on board. According to a complaint filed by an IndiGo security officer, the IndiGo 6E-784 Surat-Jaipur-Kolkata flight was scheduled to depart at 4.35pm on Thursday.
After the passengers had boarded, the technical staff and pilot found some issues and the plane was taken to the airside area for a check. Around 5.30pm, flight attendant Vaishnavi Nighot noticed that the toilet was smelling of bidi smoke.
She informed security staff, who found that the passenger on Seat 15A, Ashok Biswas, had smoked inside the toilet. The cabin crew also found a half-smoked bidi and a matchbox inside the toilet. The staff immediately had Biswas taken off the flight and his luggage was checked.
Staff found a bundle of bidis in his luggage. Dumas police were called and Biswas was handed over to them. "Biswas is from West Bengal and has been living in Navsari for 15 years.
He was to attend a social function at Nadia district in West Bengal. He works at a medical store in Navsari. He hid the bidi and matchbox inside some clothes in his bag," said a Dumas police officer.
Police arrested him after booking him under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Section 125, for endangering human lives. There were 70 passengers on board when the incident took place. Stay updated with the latest city news , Air Quality Index (AQI), and weather updates for major cities like Delhi , Mumbai , Noida , and Bangalore on Times of India .
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