This archive report was first published on 22 November 2019.
On November 22, 2019, a 48-year-old man was arrested at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport for impersonating a Lufthansa pilot.
Rajan Mahbubani, an Indian national, had been using his fake pilot identity to gain preferential treatment at airports.
According to reports, Mahbubani had been posting videos of his mischievous antics on social media, which caught the attention of local authorities.
He was caught while trying to board an AirAsia flight from Delhi to Kolkata, after a Lufthansa employee alerted airport security about a passenger posing as one of their captains.
Police recovered photos of Mahbubani dressed in a combat uniform with a fake Lufthansa pilot ID, which he claimed he obtained from Thailand.
He admitted to dressing up as a pilot to gain easy access to the airport.
Mahbubani is currently being held in a Delhi police station and will face charges of impersonation, which can attract a 1-year jail term, a fine, or both.
