IndiGo does it again: Bengaluru surgeon complains of mosquitoes on plane, offloaded

Dr Saurabh Rai, a prominent heart surgeon from Bengaluru was on Monday 'forcibly' offloaded from the Indigo flight at the Lucknow Airport after he complained about mosquitoes on flight!

Dr. Rai, the offloaded passenger on Tuesday said that the "Indigo flight from Lucknow to Bengaluru was full of mosquitoes when I raised objection, I was manhandled by the crew and offloaded from the aircraft, I was even threatened."

"I was called a terrorist by Indigo and was forced to write an apology letter after I complained of mosquitoes in the plane," he further said.

However, the airline has claimed that the surgeon used "threatening language" and words such as "hijack" and that they had acted according to safety protocols.

According to reports, co-passengers have claimed that Dr Rai was manhandled by the staff members and forced to offload the plane after boarding it on seat number 22 C. He was asked to take another flight for Bengaluru.

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 Amausi Airport in Lucknow have not yet issued any statement on the incident and remain tight-lipped.

However, private airline's internal tweets on social media @InndiGo6E claimed that Dr Saurabh Rai was offloaded from 6E541 due to 'unruly' behaviour.

"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 'highjack'. He also attempted to instigate other passengers to damage the aircraft," said an internal tweet.

In a similar incident, last November, Indigo had to apologise to a passenger, Urvashi Parikh Viren, after she fell off her wheelchair while being assisted by its staff at Lucknow airport.

Civil Aviation ministry had condemned the assault on the passenger by IndiGo staff and sought a report from the DGCA.