Man booked for making bomb threat at Mumbai airport

Australia based NRI has been booked by the Sahar police for allegedly making a bomb threat call at Mumbai international airport during the wee hours of Tuesday.

The accused identified as Sanjay Korad stays in Australia with his mother Vasanti Korad (56) and his 5 year-old child. The duo were scheduled to fly with Singapore Airlines (SIA) SQ423 from Mumbai to Singapore on Monday late evening.

The plane, a Boeing 777-300ER, had departed Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at 11.36pm, but on the same night, Vasanti had some issues with their Visa and after speaking to one of staff at the  Airport, she was questioned by the officials and later she called Sanjay in Australia and connected him to the airport officer who spoke  to him on the phone and  asked him to send required documents on whatsapp, which he sent it to him after discussion and they boarded the flight which departed on time.

An officer from Sahar police station said " The accused thought that the airport staff unnecessary harassing his mother and child, so they might miss the flight. He then made a bomb threat call at the airport to delay the flight  and also sent an sms on the whats app number of airport officer whom he had discussed about the documents. He was unaware that flight already took off on time."

"The case under section 505,506 and 507 of IPC has been registered against him and the further investigation in the matter is underway,” the officer added.

The Singapore Airlines in its statement has said " Singapore Airlines confirms there was a bomb threat concerning SQ423 operating from Mumbai to Singapore. The aircraft arrived in Singapore on 26 March 2019 at about 0800hrs (local time). There were 263 passengers on board. We are assisting the authorities with their investigations and regret that we are unable to provide further details"

The flight made a safe landing at Changi airport on tuesday morning, after the pilot raised a bomb threat alert. The flight was escorted by Singapore Airlines at the time of landing.