Thiruvananthapuram, Feb. 10: An Indian Airlines flight purser has been terminated from service for photographing Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and her family on a flight from Kochi to Agathy in Lakshadweep on December 30.

Mohammed Basheer, a Lakshadweep native on contract with Indian Airlines, had reportedly taken the picture using a mobilephone camera and handed the picture to a freelancer, who passed it to a newspaper.

The in-flight photo of Priyanka and her child, taken despite the tight security mounted by the special police, had appeared in a prominent Malayalam daily.

Local photographers and television crew had not been allowed to get anywhere near the VIP family during their vacation in Kerala and Lakshadweep.

According to Indian Airlines sources, Basheer and the entire cabin crew of the December 30 Dornier flight were called to Delhi for questioning.

“For the past week, Basheer has not been reporting for work,” a source said, confirming the termination.

Basheer, however, was not accessible on his cell phone.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had registered a strong protest with the civil aviation ministry over the national carrier’s breach of security of her children.