Kerala flight protest: Upset over report, Cong urges IndiGo to conduct fair probe

IndiGo manager Vijith T V’s report to the police says, “After the flight landed and seat belt sign went off, three passengers stood up from the seat and rushed towards the CM, shouting slogans in their vernacular language. Upon seeing this, one of the passengers intervened. Thereafter, the CM deboarded the flight.”

Satheesan, in his letter, said the report was fake, frivolous and in stark contrast to the statements given by fellow passengers.

A video of the incident shows the Youth Congress leaders raising slogans against the chief minister and walking towards the back of the plane when LDF convener E P Jayarajan steps up and purportedly pushes them away.

Satheesan said Jayarajan himself had told the media that the melee occurred after Vijayan deboarded. He also questioned why the report failed to mention Jayarajan’s name though he had “had brutally handled the YC workers”.

“To omit his name from the report in itself raises serious doubts on the probity of the officer who is learned to be hailing from Kannur,” Satheesan alleged, adding that this was done “under political pressure from higher officials of police and the CMO”.

The report was handed over to local police seeking further action on the incident.

What prompted the Congress to raise doubts about IndiGo’s report was that it has not mentioned that Jayarajan had manhandled the YC workers onboard the aircraft. The report was handed over to the local police seeking further action. YC workers and the Congress party have complained to the police that Jayarajan had brutally attacked the workers but the police did not register any case against the senior CPI(M) leader.