Air India said on Wednesday it has taken the incident of a Chhattisgarh Congress lawmaker allegedly misbehaving with a female staff at the Raipur airport "seriously" and ordered a detailed probe.
The state-run airline said it will initiate further action once the findings of the probe are known.
Vinod Chandrakar, the Congress MLA from Mahasamund in Chhattisgarh, allegedly started "shouting" and "abusing" the female staffer, working with AI's regional subsidiary Alliance Air, at the Raipur airport on September 7 evening after he arrived late for a flight and subsequently missed it.
"The matterhas come to our notice. The Air India management has taken it seriously and ordered a detailed enquiry. After the enquiry report (is received), further action will be taken up," AI spokesperson Dhananjay Kumar said in a statement.
Chandrakar was scheduled to travelto Ranchi from Raipur by Alliance Air flight 91-728, but was denied boarding by the female staffer as he arrived late at the airport, said a source.
"After departure of the flight, the passenger (the MLA) came in the check-in area and started shouting at the top of his voice.
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"He used abusive language and hurled abuses on the female staff in public. He started saying he 'is a Congress MLA', which the female staff was not awareuntil then," he said.
"One of them grabbed her identity card and the MLA spoke to the airport manager from her mobile and even refused to give it back," alleged the source.
"The female staff was later escorted/helped by the CISF and anotherstaffthrough the back gate and she walked about 2 kilometres in the night," he said.
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