Saurabh Rai was offloaded from an IndiGo flight after he complained of mosquitoes. Photo: ANI

An IndiGo passenger was allegedly manhandled and offloaded from the aircraft after he complained about mosquitoes in the flight. IndiGo, however, in a statement said that the passenger on 6E-541 was grounded for unruly behaviour.

The passenger, Saurabh Rai, said, "The IndiGo flight from Lucknow to Bengaluru was full of mosquitoes. When I raised an objection, I was manhandled by the crew and offloaded from the aircraft. I was even threatened".

The Civil Aviation Ministry has said that it will initiate an investigation into the matter.

Rai alleged that he was held by the collar and dragged through the aisle by the cabin crew. "I heard the crew saying 'if you have a problem with mosquitoes then why don't you leave India," Rai was quoted by ANI.

The IndiGo statement, however, said that before the "cabin crew on board could address his concerns, Mr Rai aggressively expressed his annoyance and started to use threatening language".

The airline said that Rai "attempted to instigate other passengers on board to damage the aircraft, and used words such as hijack".

"Such actions are absolutely unacceptable, and there is zero tolerance for such threatening language on board an aircraft. Hence, keeping in mind applicable safety protocols, the crew apprised the pilot-in-command, who decided to offload Mr Rai from the flight," Indigo said in the statement.

As the reports of the incident started doing rounds, other passengers tweeted about mosquitoes on their flight.

Hi, Sumit! Apologies for the experience. As per NGT regulation, fumigation can be done only when passengers are not on-board. We comply with that and would like to clarify that while we have defined procedures to avoid such instances, 1/3 April 10, 2018

we are sure that you will understand that entry of insects or flies cannot be completely guarded against. However, your feedback is valuable to us and we're sharing the same with the concerned team to avoid such instances in future. 2/3 IndiGo (@IndiGo6E) April 10, 2018

We look forward to serving you better on your next travel. 3/3 IndiGo (@IndiGo6E) April 10, 2018

Passenger Saurabh Rai accused the crew of dragging him through an aisle.

They held me by the collar and dragged me through the aisle, I heard crew saying 'if you have a problem with mosquitoes then why don't you leave India?': Dr.Saurabh Rai, Passenger who was offloaded from IndiGo flight in Lucknow after alleged altercation over mosquitoes in flight pic.twitter.com/oAQO6cTTAH ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2018



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