A former CISF guard arrested for allegedly placing a crude bomb in a Kingfisher aircraft in Thiruvananthapuram has been handed over to police custody after the law enforcement agency told the court that it had to examine whether the accused had any link with terrorist outfits.
A Judicial First Class Magistrate Court had Tuesday night remanded the accused Rajasekharan Nair to police custody till Thursday for further interrogation.
The police told the court that further questioning was needed to find out whether the accused had received any external help in planting the explosive by carefully evading the security apparatus at the airport.
During initial interrogation, Nair had told the police that he planted the bomb inside the aircraft to "expose" security lapses at the airport and that there was no other motive behind the act.
Nair, a cleaning supervisor of a private agency to which the ground handling job at the airport had been outsourced, had said he had carried the crude bomb concealed in his socks.
The accused had said he entered the airport through a gate which was normally used by the ground handling staff. He also claimed that he had earned the wrath of the ground staff for telling the authorities that contract employees should not be let in without proper checks.
{{/usCountry}}The accused had said he entered the airport through a gate which was normally used by the ground handling staff. He also claimed that he had earned the wrath of the ground staff for telling the authorities that contract employees should not be let in without proper checks.
{{/usCountry}}Nair was arrested on March 21 for placing the bomb in the cargo hold of the Kingfisher aircraft that arrived from Bangalore. The incident had caused a scare and officials had admitted to security lapse.