A Gurugram-based vlogger's social media antics - videos show him lighting up on a plane and drinking in the middle of a road - have drawn outrage after they recently came to the notice of a wider audience, beyond his considerable following, and led to a police case against him in Uttarakhand.
Bobby, or Balvinder, Kataria's airplane video drew a sharp response from Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who tweeted, "Investigating it. There will be no tolerance towards such hazardous behavior."
Uttarakhand police filed a case against Kataria on Thursday for the drinking video uploaded on July 28, purportedly shot in the middle of the busy Dehradun-Mussoorie road.
Smoking on flight: SpiceJet put vlogger on no-fly list in February
Following backlash on social media against Gurugram-based vlogger Bobby Kataria's videos which show him drinking in the middle of a road and smoking on a flight, SpiceJet clarified that the smoking incident took place this January on its Dubai-New Delhi flight and it had acted according to rules.
The video shows Kataria, who is sporting a yellow sweatshirt and trousers with his name emblazoned on it, putting his feet up and reclining on his row (the two other seats are empty) while smoking a cigarette. Kataria had taken SG-706 from Dubai to New Delhi on January 20 with three others. "The matter had been investigated thoroughly...when the video was brought to our notice on January 24.
The video was shot during boarding 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," a SpiceJet spokesperson said.
Acting under rules for unruly passengers, the "passenger was put on a no-flying list by the airline for 15 days in February 2022", the spokesperson added. The Gurgaon-headquartered SpiceJet also filed a case with the local police station at Udyog Vihar.
A senior official of a security agency said Kataria was seated on 21B. "CCTV footage revealed that after arrival in Delhi, the passenger had cleared immigration, collected his registered baggage and exited from terminal. Station manager SpiceJet requested to inquire into the matter and take appropriate legal action against the suspect."
