“We have filed charges and the case has been transferred to the Crime Branch for a through probe,” special commissioner of police, Dependra Pathak, said.
Pathak said Gaikwad had been booked on charges of attempt to commit culpable homicide (Section 308 IPC) and assault or criminal force with intent to dishonour a person (Section 355 IPC).
The Lok Sabha member from Osmanabad in Maharashtra is accused of beating up and trying to push down Air India officer R Sukumar from the aircraft on Thursday.
Asked why the police action came a day after the incident, Pathak said: “On Thursday evening we received the complaint and immediately it was sent for legal examination.
“We received the legal opinion yesterday following which we filed charges.”
Earlier in an unprecedented step, Air India and all private carriers refused to fly Gaikwad for assaulting the airline employee.
“Air India and member airlines have decided to ban the MP from flying on all our flights with immediate effect,” the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) said in a statement.
“We believe that exemplary action should be taken in such incidents to protect employee morale and public safety,” added FIA associate director Ujjwal Dey.
The Indian Commercial Pilots Association also sought an unconditional apology from Gaikwad and threatened to direct its members “not to operate any flight which has Gaikwad on board”.
The Sena leader earlier vowed to fly back to Pune but Air India cancelled his ticket.
Besides Air India, the airlines which won’t allow Gaikwad to fly as FIA members are IndiGo, Jet Airways, SpiceJet and Go Air. AirAsia and Vistara, which are not with FIA, joined them.
Air India has said it was examining the possibility of creating a ‘no fly’ list of unruly passengers.
Vistara said it was “in full solidarity” with Air India.
Gaikwad “will be barred from flying in any of our flights with immediate effect”, it said. “Disruptive and abusive behaviour by passengers is a serious issue and cannot be tolerated.”
AirAsia said it “does not tolerate abusive or unruly behaviour by passengers that puts the safety of other guests and crew members on board at risk”.
Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju added: “Politicians are not above law.”
Meanwhile, the party yesterday appeared sympathetic to Gaikwad saying while it did not endorse his action it wanted to know why the situation was allowed to escalate to this level.
“The speed at which our party MP has been banned from flights, if Air India had similarly ordered an improvement in its services, it would have been better,” Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP and spokesman Sanjay Raut said.
He added that although his party had no agenda for violence, “if provoked the party would hit back appropriately. The question does not concern only one MP, but the common masses in the country also who have to suffer due to the service of Air India,” Raut said, appearing to defend Gaikwad.
He alleged that when passengers were being “looted” in airports at Mumbai and New Delhi, why such promptness was lacking on improving Air India’s service.
Raut said rather than the party taking any action, it would let the law take its own course in the matter.
Meanwhile, Harshal Pradhan, the media advisor to Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, said Gaikwad had submitted his explanation to the party, but declined to reveal details.
He termed the issue as “minor” but blown out of proportions by the government to divert attention from major issues like farmers suicides in the country.
