Five police constables were suspended for dereliction of duty on Monday after an intruder damaged private company’s helicopter at Bhopal’s Raja Bhoj Airport and triggered a scare among the crew of an airline when its aircraft was about to take off on Sunday evening, a top police officer said.
Deputy inspector general (DIG) of police, Bhopal Irshad Wali confirmed the suspension of the constables and said, “Investigation in the matter is still going on.”
Officials said that though the Madhya Pradesh police and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) which guards the airport have not found terror as motive behind the accused sneaking into the airport premises, he may be could possibly get life imprisonment if the charges he is facing are proved in the court.
The passengers in an aircraft bound for Udaipur were asked to deboard and they boarded the plane again after another round of security check. The flight was delayed for more than two hours, officials said.
The intruder’s name has been withheld after his family claimed that he is “mentally unstable”.
The intruder is the only son of a government employee. His parents claimed that because of his eccentric behavior they are no more associated with him, police officials said.
{{/usCountry}}The intruder is the only son of a government employee. His parents claimed that because of his eccentric behavior they are no more associated with him, police officials said.
{{/usCountry}}None of his family members including his parents and sisters have tried to meet him after his arrest, police said.
A police official who didn’t want to be named said, “The accused told the police during the interrogation that he wanted to become a commando. That’s why he entered the airport. He didn’t have any mobile phone with him and has hardly any friends which we realised during the interrogation.”
Additional superintendent of police Dinesh Kaushal said, “As parents of the youth have claimed he is mentally unstable we are getting him medically examined. No weapon was found from his possession. No terror motive has been found so far for intruding into the airport but still we are carrying on the investigation to know what made him to take the step.”
Crimes committed under section 3A(a) of the Civil Aviation Act may lead to the accused being awarded with life imprisonment if the charges against him are proved in the court of law.
The CISF deputy commandant and officer in charge of security at the airport, Virendra Singh, said, “The accused intruded from state hanger side. The state police looks after the security at the state hanger. However, we are beefing security from where the person entered prevent recurrence of any such incident.”
He said the damage caused to the helicopter by the accused was yet to be estimated. There was no damage to the plane or any property of the airport by the accused. “During our interrogation we didn’t find any terror motive on his part in intruding the airport,” he said.