Akasa Air Passenger Caught Smoking Beedi Mid-Air, Arrested At Bengaluru Airport

Bengaluru, May 17: A 56-year-old man has been arrested for smoking beedi inside an Akasa Air flight on Tuesday. The arrested has been identified as M Praveen Kumar. Kumar, a resident of Marwar junction in Rajasthan's Pali district, has been sent to Bengaluru Central Jail. This incident marks the first arrest for smoking a beedi at KIA.

Kumar has been arrested with endangering the lives of fellow passengers by smoking a beedi midair, reported TOI.

The incident took place after KIA police had booked two passengers for lighting up cigarettes while onboard an aircraft earlier this year. Kumar, who works in the construction industry, informed the police that he is self-employed and it was his first time flying. IndiGo Airline's Woman Passenger Caught Smoking on Kolkata-Bengaluru Flight, Arrested.

Police officials said that failing to trace cigarettes during security frisking is a serious lapse.  TOI quoted an official as saying that "They get detected easily. The only explanation for such an incident is failure in frisking," he said, adding: "In the first two cases, the accused were aware of the fact that smoking is strictly prohibited in flights. Still, they were caught smoking. In Tuesday's case, Kumar, who was flying for the first time, claimed he was not aware of the no-smoking rule," the officer said. Air Hostess Molested in Plane! Drunk Passenger 'Molests' Flight Attendant Onboard Dubai-Amritsar Flight, Arrested.

Kumar is a laborer from Marwar. He was accompanying an elderly person who was traveling to the city for a post-death ceremony of a relative," the officer explained. "Since I regularly travel by train and smoke inside the toilet, I thought I could do the same on the flight and decided to smoke a beedi," Kumar confessed to the police.

According to a complaint filed by Vijay Thulluru, a duty manager at SNV Aviation Private Limited, Kumar smoked a beedi inside the toilet on Akasa Air's flight QP 1326 (Ahmedabad-Bengaluru) around 1.10 pm.

The crew immediately secured him and the flight captain declared him an unruly passenger. As soon as the flight landed in the city, the crew handed him over to security. 

Once arrested, the accused has to spend at least one week in judicial custody, a senior police official said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 17, 2023 10:25 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).