IndiGo offloads doc over mosquito row

Doc complains of mosquitoes, offloaded for ‘ unruly’ behaviour

Lucknow: Dr Saurabh Rai, a prominent heart surgeon from Bengaluru, was forcibly offloaded from Indigo flight 6E 541 at the Lucknow airport on Monday evening after he complained of “mosquitoes” on the aircraft.

◗ Fellow passengers claimed that Dr Rai was manhandled by the staff and forced to offload the plane

Dr Saurabh Rai, a prominent heart surgeon from Bengaluru, was forcibly offloaded from the Indigo flight 6E 541 at the Lucknow Airport on Monday evening after he complained of mosquitoes on the aircraft.

Fellow passengers claimed that Dr Rai was manhandled by the staff members and forced to offload the plane after boarding it on seat no 22 C. He was asked to take another flight for Bengaluru.

The doctor’s fault was that he lodged a complaint with the crew members about mosquitoes around his seat.

Discourteous staff and security men did not even allow Dr Rai any bus or car service to take him back to the airport lounge. He had to walk from the plane to lounge on foot.

The Indigo staff at the Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport in Lucknow refused to talk about the incident but their tweets on social media @ IndiGo6E, however, claimed that Dr Saurabh Rai was offloaded from 6E541 for ‘ unruly’ behavior.

“Dr Rai had initially expressed concern s regarding mosquitoes on board. Before his concern could be addressed, he became aggressive and used threatening language, including the word hijack. He also attempted to instigate other passengers to damage the aircraft,” said an internal tweet.

“Keeping in mind safety protocols as well as passenger’s unruly behaviour, the pilot- in- command decided to off load Dr Rai,” said the tweet.