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Mumbai: JNU students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar on Sunday claimed that he was attacked by a passenger on board his flight to Pune. However, Mumbai police dismissed Mr Kumar’s claims and said that prima facie it appears that Mr Kumar was involved in an onboard scuffle with co-passenger Manas Jyoti Deka (33) over seating. On the other hand, Mr Deka, a Kolkata-based IT professional, claimed that he stumbled while getting off his seat and fell on Mr Kumar who got angry even though Mr Deka apologised. Mr Deka termed Mr Kumar’s claims a “publicity stunt”. The airline asked Mr Deka, Mr Kumar and his co-passengers to disembark the plane after the scuffle.
Earlier, Mr Kumar claimed that a man tried to strangle him and when his companions attempted to rescue him, a fight broke out and in the ensuing chaos, the flight personnel asked him and his companions to disembark.
The Mumbai police, who held a press briefing regarding the same, said that a preliminary probe indicated it was a scuffle. Deven Bharti, joint commissioner of police (law and order), said, “Prima facie it appears that a fight broke out between Kanhaiya Kumar and one more passenger over seating aboard the flight.
This argument escalated and led to a fight causing the flight personnel to intervene,” he said.
According to the police, the incident occurred just after passengers from Mumbai finished boarding. “The people accompanying Kumar informed that they saw Deka attempting to strangle Kumar and they rushed to his rescue and a fight ensued due to the same. Hearing commotion, the Jet Airways on-board staff and the pilot asked the people to leave the plane,” said a official from Sahar police station.
The Jet Airways staff asked seven passengers, including Mr Deka and Mr Kumar to disembark citing security issues.
“CISF officers detained all of them at the airport and then we brought them to Vile Parle police station. Kumar’s friend Dhiraj Sharma registered a non-cognisable offence against Deka alleging assault and so did Deka against Kumar,” said an officer.
Mr Kumar also took to social networking site Twitter alleging that he was attacked and instead of taking action against the attacker, Jet Airways had asked him and his companions to leave the airplane.
Mr Bharti further added that they were going to investigate to check if Mr Kumar was indeed attacked as he has alleged.
A source said that Mr Kumar registering an NC instead of an FIR has dissolved his allegation. “If he was indeed attacked, then why did he not register an offence against the attacker?”
Police officials added that they would still be talking to the crewmembers and some other passengers to determine what exactly happened. They said Mr Deka works for software company TCS. “Deka said he had a boil on his leg and could not walk straight due to which he stumbled. We are still investigating the case further,” Mr Bharti said.
When contacted, Mr Deka refuted the allegations made by Mr Kumar and said that it was a minor issue after he stumbled and fell. “I was travelling from Kolkata to Pune for an official visit. I had seven colleagues with me on the same flight. It was a 30-minute stopover at Mumbai, which is why I decided to use the washroom. Since I was on the window seat, I had to pass through the middle seat and aisle seat. While doing so, I stumbled and my hand fell on the shoulder of the person occupying the aisle seat. I had just started to apologise, but I was soon surrounded by three-four people all shouting that I was strangling Mr Kumar,” he said.
He added that soon Mr Kumar also started shouting the same and added that I am a BJP supporter. “I am just an IT professional and not a BJP worker. I don’t know Kanhaiya, have seen his pictures, but did not recognise him till people around started shouting that I was trying to kill him,” he said. Mr Deka has also registered an NC offence against Mr Kumar.
Jet Airways later issued a statement saying that some passengers were asked to deplane for safety reasons. “Some guests on board this morning’s flight have been off loaded at Mumbai airport in the interest of operational safety. At Jet Airways, the safety and security of our guests and crew is always of prime importance,” the statement said.
