HYDERABAD: Indigo Airlines offloaded 70 passengers on board its flight 6E-466 from Hyderabad to Raipur on Friday night for “unruly behaviour”. The airline said these passengers passed “threatening remarks” and misbehaved with the cabin crew following an altercation over exchange of seats.The offloaded passengers lodged a complaint with the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport police, accusing the airline staff of harassment.Trouble began around 7.30 pm on Friday, shortly before take-off, when some passengers from the group tried to exchange seats among themselves. “A few male passengers stood in the aisle making it difficult for other passengers and crew to walk through,” said an Indigo statement, adding these passengers, despite repeated pleas by the cabin crew, refused to settle down.“They began to brush their luggage against the crew… During this period, a male passenger started screaming and shouting at crew members,” the airline stated.The ground staff was alerted and the 70-member group was asked to disembark from the flight at around 9.30 pm. The passengers were returning to Raipur after attending a wedding in Hyderabad and were booked as a group under one PNR.In their police complaint, the passengers alleged that they were not allowed to exchange seats and were harassed by crew. “The issue that started as an argument turned into an altercation. When the situation turned ugly, the passengers were offloaded. Their hand baggage was also held back by Indigo,” said T Sudhakar, inspector, RGIA police station, quoting from the passengers’ complaint.The grievance also highlighted the group was already upset as the departure of the flight had been delayed by over two hours. “What happened on board thereafter only aggravated the situation,” the inspector added.Indigo denied the charges and said the decision to offload the passengers was taken after they “created panic on board”, “hurled abuses at the staff” and their unruly behaviour “made other passengers uncomfortable with the threatening remarks”.The airline also stated that “despite the unacceptable behaviour of the group, Indigo went out of its way and ensured meal to all passengers at the Hyderabad airport and accommodated them on the subsequent flight (to Raipur), free of charge”.