The “pilot vs. passenger” brawl at Terminal 1 is getting ugly. After a weekend of headlines showing a bloodied flier, Captain Virender Sejwal is hitting back with some serious accusations of his own.
The thing is, this wasn’t a professional spat. Sejwal was “dead-heading” (traveling as a passenger to his next duty station) when he and Ankit Dewan crossed paths at a security checkpoint.1 Dewan says the pilot was cutting the line and called him “anpadh” (illiterate).2 But Sejwal’s team claims that’s a “one-sided narrative.” Or nothing.
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The Pilot’s Defense
Captain Sejwal’s lawyer, Sonali Karwasra Joon, issued a statement on Sunday that fundamentally flips the script:
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The Slurs: Sejwal claims Dewan hit him with casteist remarks and verbal abuse without any provocation.3
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The Threats: Most shockingly, the pilot alleges that Dewan issued “unfathomable threats” to the female members of Sejwal’s family—including a child.4
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The “Settlement”: Sejwal says both parties actually signed a voluntary statement in front of the CISF on the day of the incident (December 19) agreeing to drop the matter.5 Those too.
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The “Pendu” Controversy
Dewan has admitted to calling the pilot a “pendu” (a derogatory Punjabi term for “villager”) after hearing him speak Haryanvi. He argues it was a reaction to the pilot’s aggression, but Sejwal is using this to bolster his claim that the incident was fueled by bias and verbal assault from the passenger.
The Current Fallout
| Party | Action Taken |
| Ministry of Civil Aviation | Ordered immediate grounding of Sejwal; seeking BCAS/CISF reports. |
| Air India Express | Constituting an external inquiry committee next week. |
| Delhi Police | No formal FIR yet, though they are tracking the social media fallout. |
| Ankit Dewan | Claims he was “coerced” into signing the CISF settlement letter. |
And here’s the kicker: because pilots are classified as “workmen” under Indian labor laws, this inquiry has to be strictly by-the-book.6 Air India Express is distancing themselves, calling it a “purely personal matter” between two travelers that just happened to involve an employee.
It’s an ongoing “he-said, she-said” that’s likely to hinge on the CCTV footage from T1. Let’s be real, seeing a pilot in a blood-smeared shirt is a bad look for any airline, but if the allegations of threats to a child are true, this story is about to get even darker.
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End…
