Jasbir Chaudhary, manager, legal and company affairs, of SpiceJet has filed a complaint with Delhi Police on August 13 stating that Kataria is ostensibly encouraging his fans to emulate such illegal acts and follow hazardous behaviour.

Photo Credit : Video Grab,

New Delhi, August 16

Days after social media influencer and body builder Bobby Kataria was seen recording a video on the lighting a cigarette inside SpiceJet aircraft, Delhi Police have registered and FIR in the case. 

The Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had ordered an investigation into the matter.

The incident came to the airline’s notice on January 24 and it filed a complaint with Gurgaon Police that the case is beyond their jurisdiction. 

Jasbir Chaudhary, manager, legal and company affairs, of SpiceJet then filed a complaint with Delhi Police on August 13, alleging that Kataria is ostensibly encouraging his fans to emulate such illegal acts and follow hazardous behaviour.

As per the complaint, On January 24, social media influencer Kataria, who had uploaded videos and pictures from his social media accounts in which he was smoking on-board during his journey through SpiceJet flight from Dubai-Delhi, on January 21. This brazen unlawful act endangers the life of on-board passengers, public safety and (causes) unlawful interference in the security of our flight operations, SpiceJet stated in their complaint. 

The airlines had also conducted a preliminary internal enquiry was conducted by us wherein it was ascertained that the incident took place inside the aircraft during boarding, which is also evident from the video uploaded by Kataria. The said act was committed in January after which Kataria was banned from the SpiceJet flights for 15 days. 

The complainant claimed Kataria mostly slept throughout the flight and the only interaction crew members had with him was to ask him to settle down in his seat as boarding was getting hampered due to him standing in the aisle at one point of time during boarding. 

The Delhi Police lodged an FIR under Section 3 of the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act, 1982.

The video was shared by several people on social media last week, following which Kataria is seen lying down on the aircraft seat and lighting a cigarette and taking a couple of puffs, posing safety risks.

Kataria claimed that the video was shot in 2019 or 2020. He told reporters media, “It is a dummy plane and part of my biopic. It was shot in 2019 or 2020… somewhere around February. It was shot in Dubai. People who are sitting in the dummy plane are also part of the shoot. The shooting for my biopic was started in 2019 and it is likely to be completed in 2024. I do not see the need to give any justification. The person who shared the video on social media could have reached out to me and I would have explained, but everyone wanted TRP [publicity]. I want to ask everyone, how can a lighter make its way into an airplane? It would be detected by a scanner. A cigarette one can still carry, but not a lighter.”