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 on Monday when the incident occurred, news agency PTI reported on Wednesday, citing an official.
According to the police, Rajayan, a native of Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari, 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.
Upon receiving the alert, the crew checked the washroom and found a cigarette bud in the wash basin, police said.
After the flight landed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, the crew members informed the security supervisor on the ground about the unruly behaviour of Rajayan.
During questioning, Rajayan confessed to smoking inside the washroom and also produced a matchbox used for lighting a cigarette.
He was later taken to the Sahar police station in Mumbai, where a complaint was filed against him by the security supervisor.
According to the complaint, Rajayan had deliberately violated the safety-related rules by smoking inside the plane, putting all the travellers on the flight at risk.
A case was registered against the passenger under Section 336 (the act of endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 25 of the Aircraft Rules, the official said. A probe into the case was on.
