Delhi Police on Friday said that they have arrested a trainee ticketing agent of British Airways for allegedly a hoax bomb call to Spicejet call centre at IGI Airport for Pune bound Delhi flight.
The accused has been identified as Abhinav Prakash (24), a resident of Sector 22 Dwarka.
On Thursday, the Spicejet call center received a call regarding a bomb in a Pune-bound Spicejet flight from Delhi was received before takeoff at 09.30 pm.
The information was immediately escalated to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) control room and was further transferred to IGI Airport Police Station.
Keeping in view the gravity of the call the security agencies at CISF immediately swung into action and a coordination meeting of all stakeholders was organized as the bomb threat was specific.
The Spicejet Airline SG-8938 which was bound to take off to Pune, having 182 passengers and crew members was immediately taken to the isolation bay and was parked at isolation.
"All the passengers and their luggage were properly checked and frisked by CISF. Further, the aircraft was also thoroughly checked and no suspicious item/article was found. After securing the flight and ensuring the safety of all the passengers, the team of IGI examined the officials of Spicejet Airlines," said police.
Varun Kumar, Manager Security, Spicejet Ltd, lodged his official complaint with the IGI Airport Police Station.
The technical surveillance team obtained ownership of the mobile number 9899384504 (no. from which the hoax call originated) and the same was found in the name of Abhinav Prakash S/o Dr. Suryanath Singh, Aged 24 years R/o Sector 22 Dwarka, New Delhi. Immediately a raid was conducted at the given address and the accused was apprehended and subsequently arrested in the present case.
The Police said that during the interrogation, the accused disclosed that his childhood friends Rakesh alias Bunty and Kunal Sehrawat wanted to spend some more time with the two girls they met in Manali and instigated the accused to find out a plan to somehow delay their departure from Delhi.
"Accused disclosed that his friends Rakesh and Kunal went on a road trip to Manali and became friends with two girls. Both girls were departing to Pune via the SpiceJet flight. His friends told him that they wanted to spend some more time with their girlfriends and instigated the accused to find out a plan to somehow delay their departure from Delhi," said the DCP of IGI Airport.
The accused just to gratify his malignant plan made a hoax bomb call which caused inconvenience to the passengers and kept all the security agencies on high alert until the disposal of the call.
The police further said that in pursuance of the instigation, all three formulated a malicious plan of making a hoax bomb call at the call center of Spicejet Airlines, with an ulterior motive of getting the flight cancelled. Thereafter when the Spicejet officials tried to reach him he stopped picking up their calls.
The police said that the accused person to boost their false bravado contacted the girls who were onboard and when they came to know that the flight has been delayed or stopped, they even celebrated the execution of their malevolent act.
"When the news of the arrest of Abhinav Prakash reached Kunal Sehrawat and Rakesh they fled away from their addresses and are presently absconding, sincere efforts are being made to trace the remaining accused person and arrest them," said police.
Further investigation is underway.
(With Inputs from ANI)
