Nitish Kumar meets JD(U) MLA Damodar Singh at Patna Medical College and Hospital on Tuesday. Telegraph picture

Patna, Feb. 15: Two members of the ground staff of GoAir were arrested today following an FIR lodged at the Airport police station on Tuesday evening over the airline’s alleged refusal to allow an ailing JD(U) legislator to board a flight to Delhi.

Damodar Singh, the MLA from Maharajganj, was being taken to Delhi for admission at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

The station house officer of the Airport police station confirmed the arrest of duty officer Ronit Jha and customer service executive officer Devanand Yadav of GoAir around 2pm on charges of mental, physical and economical torture.

In spite of repeated attempts, no official of GoAir could be reached for comment.

The FIR, filed by Rakesh Mohan Singh, nephew of the legislator yesterday, levelled a series of allegations under eight sections of the Indian Penal Code — among them 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 500/34 (defamation) — against GoAir and the airline’s station manager at Jai Prakash Narayan International Airport among others.

The arrested GoAir duo was produced in the court of chief judicial magistrate Ramakant Yadav, who ordered their judicial custody at Beur Central Jail till February 28.

The MLA, accompanied by Rakesh Singh, left for Delhi today and was admitted to AIIMS where his condition was said to be stable.

The legislator was admitted to Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) on Monday morning. “Singh was suffering from blood sugar and diabetes problems, which have started affecting his kidney. After his condition stabilised on Tuesday morning, we referred him to AIIMS, New Delhi, for further medical investigation and treatment. He was issued the medical fitness certificate to fly and the civil surgeon had also deputed a doctor — Rajnish Chaudhary — for escorting him on the journey. Besides, he was healthy enough for the 90-minute air travel between Patna and New Delhi,” said Dr. O.P. Chaudhary, superintendent of PMCH.

The legislator, his nephew Rakesh Singh and Dr Rajnish Chaudhary arrived at Patna airport in an ambulance around 4pm yesterday. Talking to The Telegraph over phone from New Delhi, Rakesh said: “We had all the medical documents properly signed by the officers, including the fitness certificate signed by the superintendent of PMCH. Initially, the boarding passes were issued to us but later the airline staff refused to allow us boarding, claiming we did not have all documents. I showed all the documents to everyone present at the terminal building, including the protocol officer, and pleaded for boarding the aircraft. However, they did not listen to us. Moreover they started using abusive language, manhandled us and even tore our boarding passes. They said they deal with such kind of legislators everyday. I called the PMCH superintendent, who arrived at the airport, but the airline staff said the doors of the aircraft had been closed and the flight departed in front of our eyes. We felt deceived and the scuffle even raised the blood pressure level of my uncle and we immediately took him back to PMCH.”

The Telegraph spoke to one of the accused — Ronit — around an hour before his arrest. Ronit said: “We are bound to follow certain norms of the airline with regard to medical passengers. In this case, Singh had arrived in an ambulance with oxygen support and we were given no prior intimation about his arrival. Moreover, his relatives did not posses the ‘fit-to- fly’ certificate and when we asked for a declaration from his accompanying doctor, he refused to furnish it. By the time the PMCH superintendent arrived with the required certificate, the doors had been closed,” said Ronit.

PMCH superintendent Chaudhary, however, rebutted the claims. “We had issued the fitness certificate to Singh at the time of his discharge and there was no need at all to give prior information to the airline as the condition of the patient was not very critical,” he said.