Mumbai Police arrest Class 12 student for threatening tweet to airline

The 18-year-old student had tweeted “AkasaAir Boeing 737 Max will go down”.

Mumbai Police have arrested a Class 12 student from Gujarat who allegedly posted a tweet claiming that an aircraft of airline Akasa Air "will go down", an official said on Monday.

During interrogation, the accused told the police that he was interested in knowing about aircraft and had not realised the repercussions of such a post on social media.

After the tweet, the private airline had lodged a complaint at the Airport Police Station here, based on which an FIR was registered against unidentified persons under Indian Penal Code Sections 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) and 506(2) (criminal intimidation), he said.

The 18-year-old student had tweeted "AkasaAir Boeing 737 Max will go down", he said. The city police during investigation traced the IP address of the tweet to Surat in Gujarat, following which a team was sent there and the student was arrested on March 27, the official said.

During interrogation, the accused told the police that he was interested in knowing about aircraft and had not realised the repercussions of such a post on social media, the official said. The student also told the police that his intention was not to create chaos, he said. After one-day custody, the accused was released on a bail of ₹5,000 as his exams were going on, the official said.