Afraid of missing flight, man makes hoax bomb call to airport

A hoax call informing Delhi airport authorities of a bomb on a Patna-bound Indigo flight delayed services on Tuesday, a day after several calls reporting suspicious objects sent waves of panic across the city.

A hoax call informing Delhi airport authorities of a bomb on a Patna-bound Indigo flight delayed services on Tuesday, a day after several calls reporting suspicious objects sent waves of panic across the city.

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The call was made around 11.57am, allegedly by a passenger who was running late for the flight, police said.

"The caller has been identified as Pramod. He apparently made the call from his cell phone which was later switched-off. Pramod, whose wife is a medical officer in the Indian Army, is absconding," said an officer.

The police said Pramod had claimed that there was a bomb onboard Indigo flight No. 6E148, which was to take off for Patna around 12.05pm.

He was to take the flight alone and had used his cell number to book it in the concession quota, citing his wife's profession. His wife works as a medical officer in the army corps in Danapur, Patna.

As part of the usual security drill instituted for such cases, a high alert was sounded at the airport following which security agencies, including the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the police and the airline's security staff, rushed to the spot.

The police said the 138 passengers, who were in the aircraft, were offloaded along with their baggage as part of the operations, which lasted for about an hour and a half.

"The entire drill was conducted in accordance with the existing guidelines at the end of which the call was declared a hoax. A criminal case of wrongful restraint in addition to creating public nuisance has been registered and the caller is being traced," said JS Deswal, DCP (IGIA).

Initial investigations, police said, had revealed that Pramod had gone to Sonepat.