In a major breakthrough in their probe into a series of bomb threats to several airlines—which had led to chaos at airports and diversion of a few flights—police have taken a minor boy and his father into custody.
As many as 19 flights received security threats in the last three days, with three airlines—IndiGo, SpiceJet and Akasa Air—receiving fresh messages on Wednesday. The threats, issued through an unverified X account, turned out to be hoax as nothing suspicious was found on any of the planes.
The 17-year-old boy, a school dropout from Chhattisgarh, was produced before the Juvenile Justice Board in Mumbai and remanded in custody for four days. The investigators have also questioned his father.
Police claimed that the boy wanted to frame one of his friends with whom he has a dispute over money, reported NDTV. He allegedly created an X account in the name of his friend and sent bomb threat messages to the airlines, police said.
On Wednesday, IndiGo received bomb threats for three flights, including the Riyadh-Mumbai flight 6E 74 that was diverted to Muscat in Oman. A Bengaluru-bound Akasa Air flight returned to Delhi following a security threat.
The SpiceJet's X handle received a message indicating a bomb threat concerning two flights—Leh-Delhi and Darbangha-Mumbai.
Mumbai Police have registered three separate FIRs in connection with the bomb hoax threats.
"A team of Mumbai Police reached Rajnandgaon on Monday. With the help of Rajnandgaon Police, a notice was issued to a 17-year-old boy, who is a resident of Rajnandgaon city, his father, and the person whose X account was used, They were summoned for questioning and further action to Mumbai," said Rajnandgaon Superintendent of Police Mohit Garg.
The father-son duo were detained following the preliminary interrogation.