New Delhi: Days after Jharkhand Police booked him for forcibly taking clearance from the Air Traffic Control authorities to takeoff from Deoghar airport, Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Nishikant Dubey locked horns with Deoghar Deputy Commissioner Manjunath Bhajantri over the issue Friday.
Dubey, an MP from Jharkhand’s Godda, has been booked for allegedly taking a chartered flight with his two sons and another BJP MP, Manoj Tiwari, from the newly-opened Deoghar Airport after permitted hours on 31 August.
“This is the style of a criminal who forcibly breaks through the security cordon without permission. In what capacity did you enter the airport,” Dubey asked Bhajantri on Twitter in response to the latter’s tweet on the First Information Report against Dubey.
In response, Bhajantri tweeted that he had a “legitimate entry pass” since he was a “board member”. He followed it up with questions about how he and his children, who travelled with him on the flight, gained access to the ATC.
Hon’ble MP Sir,
Few questions.
1. Who authorised you to enter ATC Room?
2. Who authorised your two children to enter ATC Room?
3. Who authorised your supporters to enter ATC Building? https://t.co/jI562TIA2X
— Manjunath Bhajantri IAS (@mbhajantri) September 2, 2022
Hon’ble MP Sir,
Few questions.
1. Who authorised you to enter ATC Room?
2. Who authorised your two children to enter ATC Room?
3. Who authorised your supporters to enter ATC Building? https://t.co/jI562TIA2X
— Manjunath Bhajantri IAS (@mbhajantri) September 2, 2022
An ATC room is used to help direct air traffic. Flights that take off from an airport require permission from the ATC.
Dubey, his two sons — Kanishk Kant Dubey and Manikant Dubey — Tiwari, and the director of the Deoghar airport have been booked under Sections 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), 447 (punishment for criminal trespass), and 448 (punishment for house-trespass) of the Indian Penal Code. The FIR, filed Friday, came on the basis of a complaint by airport security in-charge Suman Anand.
Dubey has denied the allegations saying that he had “necessary permission from airport authorities” for his flight, instead accusing Bhajantri of “deliberately” filing a case against him. He also accused the IAS officer of having allegedly breached “national security”.
He also alleged that the DC “threatened to kill him”.
Meanwhile, Delhi Police registered a zero FIR against Bhajantri for sedition and breach of the Official Secrets Act on the basis of Dubey’s complaint.
“After checking in at the airport around 5:25 pm, I decided to meet and ask the airport director regarding the ongoing case at Jharkhand High Court over no ‘night take-off or landing facility’ of flights. I was stopped by the Jharkhand police officials and they even abused my two sons,” Dubey said in his FIR.
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What happened
Flight services at the Deoghar airport — which Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled in July — are currently allowed till 30 minutes before sunset.
According to the complaint filed in the case, the flight carrying Dubey and others took off at 6.17 pm — beyond sunset time, which is at 6.03 pm.
In his letter to Jharkhand’s principal secretary, cabinet-coordination (civil aviation) Friday, Bhajantri said Anand, the security in charge at the airport, was “shocked and alarmed” at the presence of passengers in the ATC room. The security in charge also witnessed the passengers and the flight’s pilot, the letter claimed, pressuring authorities in the room to give take-off permission to the flight. The letter also added that the incident was a “breach of airport security standards.”
As the war of words escalated between Bhajantri and Dubey, the latter told the former that he should “study aviation rules again”.
“As an IAS officer, the nation expects better from you. Now the matter is under investigation at all possible levels, please comment further only after reading aviation and airport rules carefully henceforth,” Dubey said.
This is an updated version of the story.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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