 "No thank you for smoking! Who is the influencer Bobby Kataria now viral for lighting up on SpiceJet flight?")
Aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday ordered a probe after a video purportedly showing social media influencer Bobby Kataria smoking on a SpiceJet flight went viral on social media. The video shows Kataria — who has 6.3 lakh followers on Instagram — lighting a cigarette while lying down on one of the middle rows of a SpiceJet plane.
Passengers are not allowed to take lighter in the plane. Passengers are also not allowed to smoke in the plane. According to sources, the incident occurred on a SpiceJet’s SG706 flight that was coming from Dubai to Delhi. As per the regulations of aviation regulator DGCA, an airline has the power to ban an “unruly” passenger for a certain period of time if he or she violates any rules. When the video of this incident was posted on Twitter on Thursday, Scindia responded: “Investigating it. There will be no tolerance towards such hazardous behaviour.” But who is Bobby Kataria? Why has there been a social media uproar? Let’s take a closer look: Who is Bobby Kataria? Kataria is a social media influencer, lifestyle blogger and bodybuilder who lives in Gurgaon.
Kataria is extremely active on social media with 6.30 lakh followers on Instagram alone.
His videos often show Kataria flexing and offering fitness tips to youths. What happened on the flight? The video was shot in January when the influencer reportedly travelled from Dubai to New Delhi on a SpiceJet flight. The video was immediately taken down from his social media pages but clips of the same are all over social media. “Balvinder Kataria traveled from Dubai to New Delhi on a SpiceJet flight. He landed in Delhi on 23.01.22. Video isn’t available on his Facebook/Instagram page. The action was taken by aviation security earlier,” the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security told news agency ANI. As per New Indian Express, the airline has said the matter had been investigated thoroughly in January 2022 when the video was brought to their notice and a complaint had been filed by the airline with Udyog Vihar PS in Gurugram. “The video, the investigation had revealed, was shot on 20th January 2022 while passengers were boarding flight SG 706 scheduled to operate from Dubai to Delhi,” the spokesperson told NDTV. “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, 2022 through social media posts,” the airline said. “The matter was referred to the internal committee constituted as per the provisions of Civil Aviation Requirements 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 spokesperson said. Previous brushes with controversy This isn’t the first time Kataria has found himself embroiled in controversy. Kataria had on 28 July uploaded a video of drinking alcohol in the middle of a road in Dehradun.
The clip purportedly shows Kataria consuming alcohol on a chair in the middle of the road. The video has background music playing which says, “Roads apne baap ki." As per The Times of India, Uttarakhand’s director general of police Ashok Kumar has launched an inquiry into the incident. “The man seen in the video is blocking the road and consuming liquor in public,” Kumar said, adding added that this is totally unacceptable and strict action will be taken. As per DNA, Kataria in December 2017, created a ruckus inside a police station in Gurugram in connection with a double murder case in his village. The police had registered six cases against him, as per Navbharat Times. After his arrest, he alleged police tortured him in custody. He also has at least three cases against him in Delhi, as per the newspaper daily added. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .