25-year-old unemployed Delhi man held for bomb hoax threats

A 25-year-old man was arrested for sending bomb threats to airlines. He copied flight details as a prank after seeing similar incidents on TV.

A 25-year-old unemployed man, a resident of Uttam Nagar, was arrested on Saturday for allegedly sending bomb threats to multiple airlines and claiming bombs were planted in multiple flights on Friday night, police said. This marked the second arrest across the country — Mumbai Police detained a 17-year-old on October 16 — in connection with the series of hoax bomb threats made over the past fortnight.

Upadhyay allegedly made two posts on social media, threatening to blow up Delhi-bound flights, after watching television reports on the same.(Prasad Gori/HT File Photo)

Police identified the accused as Shubham Upadhyay, a Class 12 graduate. A senior police officer said that Upadhyay allegedly made two posts on social media, threatening to blow up Delhi-bound flights, after watching television reports on the same.

“We think he copied the schedule of a few flights and pasted them along with a threat saying there was a bomb on these planes,” the officer, not wishing to be identified, said.

The two posts were sent to the IGI Airport police early Saturday.

Police said they immediately registered a case under the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation (SUA-SCA) Act and sections of criminal intimidation under the BNS.

Usha Rangnani, deputy commissioner of police (IGI Airport), said, “We had taken immediate action and standard security protocols were followed for all flights. Threat was found to be a hoax. During the investigation, the origin of the messages was traced to an account registered in the name of Upadhyay. Based on further information, a raid was conducted and he was nabbed.”

Police said Upadhyay admitted to having posted the messages after watching news of similar incidents on television. “He wanted to draw attention to himself and sent the messages as a prank. The matter is currently under further investigation,” Rangnani said.

Police said they have strengthened security in and around the airport and urged the public not to get “alarmed” over such threats.

Meanwhile, the aviation ministry sent an advisory to airlines on the hoax bomb threats and urged them to report fake calls, messages and posts at the earliest.

Civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu said that the ministry intended to take strict action against the accused and that the safety of passengers would not be compromised.