File picture of Chennai Airport
Police have arrested a man who entered the Chennai Airport's domestic terminal allegedly without a valid ticket when the airport was on a high alert on Independence Day.
According to officials, the man entered the airport this afternoon by showing a cancelled ticket. He wanted to see off his wife and daughter who were flying to Hyderabad.
He was detained when he tried to leave through the entrance of the departure after Air India officials found no booking was made in his name at all.
The man also gave contradictory information, claiming that he lost his boarding pass and hence wanted to return and later that his father had met with an accident and wanted to rush back.
His wife who had boarded the flight by then told officials over phone that he had no plans to fly along with them. Finally airline officials handed him over to security authorities to probe him for 'breach of security and fraud'.
Air India authorities blamed the Central Industrial Security Force officials for the security failure. A commandant of the security force however denied that the incident was a breach of security.
"The man had entered the airport presenting a cancelled online ticket to see off his family. Presently CISF officials at the entry gate cannot verify if the ticket is a valid one or otherwise. We are trying to build a system to fix this," Anand Mohan, a senior Airport security official, said.