Comedian Kunal Kamra ban / IndiGo pilot objects, said- kunal banned solely on the basis of social media posts

Captain Rohit Mateti said the comedian’s behaviour with journalist Arnab Goswami was unsavoury but was not ‘qualifying of a Level 1 unruly passenger’.

• Disheartened to learn that my airline took decision solely on basis of social media posts,’ said the captain
• The stand-up comedian was banned by Indigo, Air India and Spice Jet after he allegedly heckled journalist Arnab Goswami in a flight from Mumbai to Lucknow on Tuesday

The captain who flew Kunal Kamra and Arnab Goswami writes to IndiGo management asking why the airline didn’t consult him before banning the stand-up comedian.

“Disheartened to learn that my airline took decision solely on basis of social media posts,” said the captain.

“As captain of 6E5317 Mumbai-Lucknow flight on January 28, I do not find…events reportable in any way. Mr. Kamra’s behaviour, while unsavoury, was not qualifying of a level 1 unruly passenger. Indeed, we pilots can all attest to incidents similar and/or worse in nature that were not deemed unruly,” the captain said in his email to the airline’s management which has been accessed by PTI.

When asked about the pilot-in-command’s email, IndiGo said, “We have received the relevant statements and the internal committee has initiated the investigation regarding this incident.”

Kamra was banned by Indigo, Air India and Spice Jet after he allegedly heckled journalist Arnab Goswami in a flight from Mumbai to Lucknow on Tuesday.

The comedian had shared a video on Twitter where he could be heard asking his co-passenger Arnab Goswami: “Viewers today want to know if Arnab is a coward or a nationalist. Arnab, this is for national interest. I am part of the tukde-tukde narrative. You should deflate me. You should take the enemy of the states down.

However, Arnab Goswami chose to remain quiet and did not answer back.

Kamra on Thursday took to Twitter, where he shared a photograph of himself holding a placard which read: “Arnab I just want to say I am not sorry.”

He captioned the image: “Sorry for not being sorry.”