CA held guilty of enacting mid-air hijack drama in 2009

A Delhi court has held a chartered accountant (CA) guilty of enacting a mid-air drama in February 2009 on a Goa-Delhi Indigo flight.

A Delhi court has held a chartered accountant (CA) guilty of enacting a mid-air drama in February 2009 on a Goa-Delhi Indigo flight.

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Jitender Kumar Mohla, 45, had threatened the crew and passengers of the plane by saying that he was carrying infected needles and gun and triggered a hijack alert.

He has been convicted under Section 3(1) (D) of the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act, 1982, which deals with offences on board an aircraft, apart from various IPC sections — punishment for which can extend up to a life term.

District Judge IS Mehta, however, acquitted Mohla of the charges framed under the Anti Hijacking Act, observing that nothing incriminating was found from his possession when he was arrested on February 2, 2009.

According to the police, Mohla had allegedly entered the plane’s cockpit on February 1, 2009 and had sparked panic by claiming that he had hijacked the plane.

He had also warned the crew members that he was one of the accused in the infamous 1999 Kandahar hijacking and was carrying needles with which he will “infect” others if they resisted him, the prosecution said.

The crew members and some passengers had later overpowered him and he was arrested the next day.

“Even if it is presumed that he (Mohla) had no such intention, it must be attributed that he knew he was on board an Indigo flight carrying 160 passengers and his terrifying act… could endanger the safety of the passengers as well as the aircraft in flight,” the judge said.