Air India’s Regional Director for East, Rohit Bhasin, who was allegedly caught on June 22nd shoplifting a wallet from a duty-free shop at the Sydney airport has put down his papers and the Air India authority has accepted the resignation, said by an airline official on Wednesday.
August 31st would be his last working day at Air India ,one of the officials said.
Accoding to the official, Bhasin’s suspension was revoked on Monday so that his resignation could be accepted on Tuesday. The revoking of suspension was just a technicality.
Since the date of the happening, he has been under suspension and not allowed to enter the premises of the national carrier.
On june 22nd, in AI301 flight from the Sydney airport to Delhi, Bhasin was rostered as one of the pilots.
On 23rd june The airline spokesperson said that as per initial report captain Bhasin was picking up a wallet from a duty free shop in Sydney. Air India authority has set up an enquiry into this matter and has placed the captain under suspension.”
A week back, Bhasin had come to meet the Air India Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Ashwani Lohani with the intention of offering his resignation under VRS scheme, another official said.
Though Lohani refused to accept the resignation under VRS scheme, the official said.
As the incident happened in a foreign country and not easy to follow the case, so the CMD asked him to either resign – in a way that he can’t use post retirement benefits like medical remuneration, passes for dependent family, etc. – or fight the case in Sydney. Captain Bhasin opted to resign without post-retirement benefits, as said by the official.
So this was considered to be a case of forced resignation, the official added.
