JOIN USPassenger arrested for bomb scare on flight
A passenger on an Indigo flight from Delhi on Thursday triggered a midair scare claiming there was a bomb on board and demanding that the plane be diverted to Pakistan and was booked for criminal intimidation and threatening human life.
The claim of a bomb on the plane with 158 passengers on board turned out to be a hoax, police said.
The passenger identified as Sanjay Malik(28), a Haryana resident, allegedly suffering from mental problems, was arrested at the city airport. He was travelling alone.
A commotion in the aircraft arose when Malik, while being served a carton of apple juice about 15 minutes before the landing time, claimed there was a bomb in the packet given to him, police said. The pilot also reported to the ATC some “disruptive behaviour” by a passenger. “He also began shouting that the flight should not land in Mumbai as planned and should instead be taken to Karachi,” a senior police official from the airport police station said.
The pilot of the aircraft alerted officials at the city airport about the incident and the cabin crew on board managed to keep him under check till the aircraft landed.
After the flight landed at about 1145 hours at the city’s airport, Malik was handed over to CISF personnel, a spokesperson for the Mumbai International Airport said.
A thorough search was also carried out in the plane but nothing suspicious was found, CISF officials said.
The man’s mother claimed he was “mentally upset”.
“My son is employed in a company at Chandigarh. Last week, he met with an accident there and has remained mentally upset since then,” Sanjay Mallik’s mother said. Mallik has been booked under section 506 (II) of IPC for criminal intimidation and under the relevant sections of the Airport Act for claiming that there was a bomb on board an aircraft, police officials said, adding some of the sections applied were non-bailable.
“He will be produced before a magistrate’s court tomorrow,” police officials said.
“We have spoken to his father who said he recently suffered a head injury in an accident and had some mental problems after that,” they said.
“Mallik’s father told us that he had admitted his son at a hospital in Delhi for treatment,” a senior police official from the airport police station told PTI.
However, Mallik had fled from the hospital to Mumbai, his father had told the police, the official said. A statement from Indigo Airlines said all 158 passengers on board were safe.