Air India cancels Ravindra Gaikwad's tickets; Shiv Sena MP claims he never tried booking

New Delhi/Mumbai: A day after Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad refused to tender an apology to the 60-year-old Air India staffer, the airline on Friday cancelled his tickets between Mumbai and Delhi booked for later this month.

This is the seventh attempt on the part of the Sena MP to book a flight on Air India, which barred him from flying after he assaulted the airline's staffer.

Gaikwad is facing a ban from various airlines from flying after he assaulted a 60-year-old Air India official with his footwear on March 23 after his Pune-Delhi flight landed at the Delhi airport.

"There was an attempt to book a ticket at 5 am today through our web portal. The reservations were being made for March 17 for travel from Delhi to Mumbai and for 24 March from Mumbai to Delhi," said an airline source.

The ticket was being booked under the name 'Ravindra Gaikwad' and we were alerted through our tracker, the source said.

The MP has also made an attempt each to book an IndiGo flight and a SpiceJet flight since the flying ban on him by all the domestic carriers was put in place.

However, his refusal to apologise to the official made Air India cancel the Shiv Sena MP's Delhi-Mumbai and Mumbai-Delhi tickets for April 17 and 24 respectively.

Gaikwad, however, has denied booking any ticket.

The MP has claimed that someone was trying to defame him by attempting to book tickets in his name.

"I neither booked a ticket for April 17 nor April 24 for any airlines as reported since (Budget) Session is to be adjourned sine die on April 13," Gaikwad said.

Here is the copy of Gaikwad's Air India ticket which was cancelled by the airlines:

On Thursday, Gaikwad apologised in the Lok Sabha for the assault on an airline staffer but defended himself.

Also, Gaikwad's party colleagues in the Lok Sabha demanded the lifting of the flying ban against him and the party threatened to boycott an April 10 National Democratic Alliance meeting in case the matter was not sorted out at the earliest.

Unhappy with the government response, Union Minister Anant Geete, of the Shiv Sena, questioned how an attempt to murder charge could be slapped against Gaikwad.

Geete and Civil Aviation Minister P Ashok Gajapathi Raju almost came to blows as the latter maintained that flight safety was paramount.

Earlier yesterday, Gaikwad also wrote a letter to Raju requesting the flying ban on him be lifted.

But the national passenger carrier did not remove the ban but sources in the Civil Aviation Ministry said that they are looking into the matter after Gaikwad's assurance that such incident will not be repeated.

Also Read: Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad continues to be risk to flight safety, should tender apology to Air India staff: AICCA

An Air India official told news agency IANS that the airline has beefed up security to protect its employees at Mumbai and Pune following an alleged threat by Shiv Sena to disrupt the company's operations if the ban is not revoked.

(With Agency inputs)