Man Arrested For Smoking In Lavatory Of Mumbai-Bound Air India Flight

Mumbai’s Sahar Police has registered a case against a man identified as 34-year-old Arjun Ram Thalore for allegedly smoking on an Air India Jaipur-Mumbai flight, news agency ANI reported. The police arrested Thalore, a resident of Rajasthan, and later released him on bail. 

According to the police, the incident took place on May 25. Thalore was on Air India Flight AI 15.670, which took off from Jaipur. Thalore was seated on seat 7F throughout the journey. He entered the lavatory at the back of the plane and started smoking, causing the sensor to go off.

A senior crew member immediately approached the lavatory, knocked on the door, and opened it from outside, discovering Thalore smoking inside. When Thalore saw the crew member, he immediately left the lavatory and returned to his seat.

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The flight landed in Mumbai and Thalore was handed over to the Air India security department. The security personnel then took him to the Sahar police station, where a case was registered against him for violating Indian Penal Code Section 336 (endangering life) and Aircraft Act Provision 25 (smoking in aircraft).

In another incident that took place in March this year, a 42-year-old man was arrested for reportedly smoking a beedi inside a lavatory on an IndiGo flight bound for Riyadh. The incident sparked security concerns as the passenger had successfully passed pre-boarding checks at Delhi airport. After the flight arrived in Mumbai, the cabin crew handed him over to the police.

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In another incident that took place earlier this month, a 51-year-old passenger was arrested for lighting up a cigarette inside the washroom of a Vistara flight during his journey from Oman’s Muscat to Mumbai. The passenger, identified as Balakrishna Rajayan, was flying from Muscat to Mumbai on Vistara’s UK-234 flight when the incident took place, news agency PTI reported citing an official.

The police said that the passenger smoked inside the washroom of the aircraft. The incident came to light when the pilot noticed it with the help of a smoke detector and alerted the onboard cabin crew.