Social media influencer Bobby Kataria smokes inside SpiceJet plane, Jyotiraditya Scindia orders probe

A viral video shows Kataria -- who has 6.3 lakh followers on Instagram -- lighting a cigarette on one of the middle rows of a SpiceJet plane

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia Thursday ordered a probe into a video that surfaced online of bodybuilder Bobby Kataria smoking on a Delhi-Dubai SpiceJet flight eight months ago.

The video showed Kataria lighting a cigarette on one of the back rows of a SpiceJet plane on January 20 when passengers were boarding the plane. Scindia tweeted after the video was posted on Twitter on Thursday, "Investigating it. There will be no tolerance towards such hazardous behaviour."

Passengers are not allowed to take lighters on a plane or are not allowed to smoke.

SpiceJet said the smoking incident took place when fliers were boarding the plane and cabin crew were busy with completing the on-boarding procedure. It said the airline had put Kataria on "no flying list" for 15 days in February after an investigation.

The CISF said they came to know of the incident in January itself and they had written to the airline and a complaint was subsequently sent to police in Haryana's Gurugram. It said police had filed a case against him in Gurugram.

SpiceJet said in a statement, "The matter had been investigated thoroughly in January 2022 when the video was brought to our notice and a complaint had been filed by the airline with the Udyog Vihar Police Station in Gurugram."

Gurugram Police Commissioner Kala Ramachandran said the airport is not in the jurisdiction of Gurugram and no action is warranted by them in the matter.

The airline said the video was shot on January 20 when flight SG 706 was to fly from Dubai to Delhi.

"The said passenger and his co-passengers shot the video on the 21st row when the cabin crew were occupied with completing the on-boarding procedure. None of the passengers or crew was aware of the act. The matter came to the airline's notice on January 24 through social media posts," it said.

"The matter was referred to the Internal Committee constituted as per the provisions of Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) on handling of unruly passengers (not consisting of any SpiceJet employee). The said passenger was put on a no flying list by the airline for 15 days in February 2022," the airline added.