'Did you do it to get back at your relatives?' Mumbai police to quiz woman behind bomb hoax

After a woman sounded a false alert about a bomb on an IndiGo flight at the city airport on Saturday, the police said they would call her for questioning to ascertain if she had given false information to settle scores with her relatives.

The woman, 41, showed the authorities photos of four people in her cell phone gallery, stating they were planning to plant a bomb in the Delhi-bound flight. But the people turned out to be her relatives who had no criminal intentions, the police said after questioning them.

The woman was to fly on GoAir flight G8 329 to Delhi. She had approached an IndiGo check-in counter at Terminal 1 and told the on-duty officials there was a bomb aboard IndiGo flight 6E 3612 which was to fly to Delhi, at 6.50 am, via Lucknow. The 169 passengers aboard the aircraft were deplaned and it was isolated to a bay and checked thoroughly — from landing gear to cockpit — as per the anti-sabotage schedule.

"Security agencies found the warning to be a hoax. The aircraft was released to fly," said an official.

"The woman was booked under sections 336 (endangering life or personal safety of others) and 505 (public mischief) of Indian Penal Code. Once her questioning was done, she was allowed to leave for Delhi with her husband," said DCP (Zone VIII) Anil Kumbhare.

POLICE SPEAK

‘The woman appeared to be in an unsound mental state and was allowed to leave. We will call her again for questioning as she had showed photos of her kin alleging that they had planted a bomb’.