BJP MPs Nishikant Dubey, Manoj Tiwari booked for forcing flight take-off at Deoghar airport
An FIR has been lodged against BJP MPs Nishikant Dubey, Manoj Tiwari and seven others after they allegedly forced officials at Deoghar airport in Jharkhand to clear their chartered flight for take-off at night.
The case against the BJP leaders was registered based on a complaint by Suman Anan, DSP of the airport. Nine persons, including Nishikant Dubey, Manoj Tiwari and the airport director, have been charged with endangering the life or safety of others and criminal trespass.
According to the FIR, on August 31, Lok Sabha MP from Godda Nishikant Dubey, his son Kanishk Kant Dubey, Mahikant Dubey, MP Manoj Tiwari, Mukesh Pathak, Devta Pandey, and Pintu Tiwari entered the high-security Air Traffic Control (ATC) at Deoghar airport without permission and used their influence to pressure officials to give clearance to their chartered plane.
However, the newly inaugurated airport is yet to be cleared for night operations. Flight services at the airport are currently allowed till 30 minutes before sunset.
According to the complainant’s statement, the time of sunset on the day of the incident was 6:03 pm. The chartered flight with the BJP leaders on board took off at 6:17 pm.
Reacting to the FIR against him, Nishikant Dubey told India Today, “The airport authority did not object. We took permission from the director of the airport I am ready to fight the case, we will put forward our side of the events.”
On Friday night, Dubey got into a Twitter spat with Deoghar District Magistrate (DM) Manjunath Bhajantri, who said the BJP leader “breached national security” by bypassing safety regulations and forcibly getting clearance for his flight.
Dubey hit back, tweeting, “I’d suggest you to 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.”
