New Delhi, Dec. 22 -- A day after the aviation ministry grounded an Air India Express pilot following an alleged assault on a passenger at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International IGI) Airport, the captain at the centre of the controversy issued a detailed statement on Sunday, saying that he was provoked and subjected to casteist slurs. In the statement, which HT has seen, captain Virender Sejwal said the incident at Terminal 1 on December 19 had been "misrepresented" and wrongly projected as a professional dispute. Rejecting the narrative of a one-sided assault, the statement also alleged provocation and abuse by the other passenger, including casteist remarks. "Capt. Virender Sejwal was travelling as a passenger. He was not on flight duty, nor...