Panaji:
Irked by the behaviour of a fan who tried to click a selfie with him at the Goa airport, Bollywood actor Salman Khan on Tuesday snatched his mobile phone.
The video of the incident has gone viral on social media.
In the clip, a man can be seen approaching Khan and trying to click a selfie when the actor was walking out of the airport.
Annoyed, Khan can be seen snatching the mobile phone from the man, who was later identified as a ground staff working for an airlines.
“No formal complaint is lodged but when the video went viral, we inquired about the incident and confirmed it,” said a senior official of the airport.
When contacted, Airport Police Inspector Sagar Ekoskar said no formal complaint was lodged.
Meanwhile, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) issued an advisory to Dabolim airport authorities to ask its staff to maintain “decorum”.
Confirming the issuance of the advisory, Goa Airport Director Gagan Malik told PTI, “The staff should concentrate on their work. They should do their duty and not indulge in clicking selfies with the passengers at the terminal.”
He said such incidents can bring discomfort to the thousands of people who use the airport, which he claimed was the “face of the state”.
Some political leaders took to Twitter to condemn Khan’s behaviour and said the actor should apologise.
Former South Goa MP and state BJP general secretary Narendra Sawaikar tweeted, “Being celebrity, people and your fans will take selfies in public places. Your attitude and behaviour is most deplorable. You have to tender unconditional public apology.”
South Goa BJP general secretary Navin Pai Raikar, while tweeting about the airport incident, made a reference to the 2002 hit-and-run case in Mumbai in which Khan was named as an accused.
Khan was acquitted in the 2002 case by a Mumbai court and an appeal against the verdict is pending in the Supreme Court.
“Uncle, this is not the way you behave in #Goa! Yea #Mumbai ka footpath nahi hai where you crush people under your car and get away! @BeingSalmanKhan you should apologise!”, Raikar said on Twitter.
The Goa chief of Congress-affiliated National Students Union of India, Ahraz Mulla, wrote to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant emphasising that “authorities need to see the incident with utter seriousness”.
Mulla demanded an apology from Khan, and said actors with a “bad track record with fans” must not be allowed to come to Goa.
