Lighter Burns Fingers

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A cigarette lighter that was recovered from the baggage of a passenger at the international terminal of Thiruvananthapuram Airport sparked off a controversy as it affected the journey of the passenger and also brought a security inspector under departmental inquiry. The incident took place on Wednesday. The passenger, P R Sankara Narayanan, hailing from Mavelikkara and an engineer working in Dubai, alleged that the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) inspector A K Chandra abused his power and forcibly offloaded him from the flight, all because the latter found a cigarette lighter inside one of his bags. He has also filed a complaint with the Airport Director and also the Bureau of Civil Aviation in this regard.  The Airport Director has ordered the CISF authorities to conduct a probe into the complaint and submit a report. The airport sources said that a security officer had the authority to offload a passenger, if he/she refused to cooperate with the security check. On the other hand, the officer would not be exempted from disciplinary action if found guilty.  Meanwhile, sources close to the inspector said that it was in fact the passenger who had misbehaved with the officer. Sanakara Narayanan, who at first refused to take out the inflammable gadget, even threw it at the officer when he stuck to the rules.