25-year-old unemployed Delhi resident arrested for bomb hoax threat

Police said a 25-year-old unemployed man, a resident of Uttam Nagar, was arrested on Saturday for allegedly sending bomb threats to multiple airlines and claiming that bombs were planted in multiple flights on Friday night. This is the second arrest across the country in connection with a series of fake bomb threats made in the last two weeks – Mumbai Police detained a 17-year-old on October 16.

Allegedly, after watching the news on television, Upadhyay shared two posts on social media threatening to blow up Delhi-bound flights.(Prasad Gori/HT File Photo)

Police identified the accused as Shubham Upadhyay, a Class 12 graduate. A senior police officer said Upadhyay made two posts on social media and threatened to explode delhi– connecting flights, after watching television reports on the same topic.

The police officer, who did not want his name to be disclosed, said, “We think he copied the schedules of several flights and pasted them with the threat that there were bombs on these planes.”

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The two posts were sent to the IGI Airport police early on Saturday.

Police said they immediately registered a case under the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against Civil Aviation Security (SUA-SCA) Act and criminal intimidation sections under BNS.

Deputy commissioner of police (IGI Airport) Usha Rangnani said: “We took immediate action and standard security protocols were followed in all flights. The threat was determined to be a hoax. During the investigation, it was determined that the source of the messages was an account registered in the name of Upadhyay. “According to the information obtained, a raid was carried out and he was captured.”

Police said Upadhyay confessed to posting the messages after watching news about similar incidents on television. “He wanted to draw attention to himself and sent the messages as a joke. The matter is currently being investigated further,” said Rangnani.

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Police stated that they increased security in and around the airport and called on the public “not to panic” in the face of such threats.

Meanwhile, the aviation ministry has issued a warning to airlines about hoax bomb threats, urging them to report hoax calls, messages and posts as soon as possible.

Civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu said the ministry plans to take strict action against the accused and the safety of passengers will not be compromised.