Woman assaults CISF man, threatens to blow up KIA

A 31-year-old woman was detained at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) for allegedly assaulting a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel and threatening to blow up the airport.

Police said the woman – identified as Manasi Satheebainu from Kozhikode, Kerala – was arrested and sent to jail over the incident which happened at around 8.20 am on Friday.

A case was registered based on a complaint by Sandeep Singh, an officer in the CISF’s ASG Unit who was on duty at boarding gate no 6 at Terminal 1 of the airport, at the time of the incident.

Manasi was scheduled to fly to Kolkata on an Indigo (6E 455) flight. She allegedly approached Singh and said she needed to board the flight immediately and asked him to speed up the screening.

When Singh asked her to wait as he needed to follow standard procedures, Manasi threatened to blow the airport up with a bomb. Singh and the other staff at the gate tried to calm her down and requested her to not create a ruckus.

She allegedly grabbed Singh’s collar, kicked him in his abdomen, and slapped him on his face. She also pulled him and abused him. Later, she screamed to passengers waiting at the boarding gate, asking them to leave immediately because a bomb had been planted in the airport.

The officials tried to explain to some of the panicked passengers that the threat was a hoax. Singh’s colleagues rushed to his help and detained Manasi. They called the KIA police and handed her over to them.

Police said they were unaware of the details of Manasi’s visit to Kolkata. Members of her family apologised to the police and said she was “disturbed” over some issue.

The case was registered under IPC sections 353 – (assault or criminal force on a public servant to deter from discharging duty), 323 – (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), and 505 – (statements conducting public mischief).

“It started with the woman asking the CISF staff to allow her to board the flight without following the due procedures. Following a heated argument, she manhandled the CISF staff,” Anoop A Shetty, deputy commissioner of police (North-East), said.