Late for flight, techie fakes bomb alert

When Abhishek Gupta realised he’d miss his flight to Bangalore, he had an idea that was sure to delay it. He called the airline and told them there was a bomb on the plane.

When Abhishek Gupta realised he’d miss his flight to Bangalore, he had an idea that was sure to delay it. He called the airline and told them there was a bomb on the plane.

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The plan worked, but not the way he wanted. The software engineer from Infosys was arrested at the airport. And the flight took off without him, three hours late.

The police said Gupta (25) first realised he would be late when his train to Delhi from Lucknow started running late. So, he allegedly called Go Air’s commercial manager in Mumbai, claiming there was a bomb on Flight 201. Before that, he’d called thrice to request that his flight be rescheduled — a request that was denied — and had given his passenger name record (PNR) number.

That proved to be his undoing. When the Central Industrial Security Force de-boarded all 158 passengers and six crew and did a thorough check of the plane, they found that he wasn’t on it.