Mumbai-Srinagar Flight Delayed After Hoax Bomb Threat At Airport Last Week; Police Investigation Ongoing

Mumbai: The Mumbai International Airport contact centre received a bomb threat call on September 4. The call came from an unknown number, with the caller stating, "Hello... the 2:05 p.m. flight from Mumbai to Srinagar has a bomb on board." The airline responded by deboarding the passengers and conducting thorough checks, ultimately determining the call to be a hoax and allowing the flight to proceed. The Sahar police have not arrested anyone yet and are currently investigating the matter.

According to the FIR, on September 4 at noon, MIAL's contact centre (Mumbai International Airport Limited) at Terminal 2 received a call from the number 8157847709, with the caller claiming in Hindi, "Hello.. yeh jo 2.05 pm flight hai.. jo Mumbai se Srinagar ja raha hai, usme mein bomb hai" before hanging up. The call receiver, Yamini Bandekar, a customer support executive, promptly informed her seniors, the Bomb Threat Assessment Committee at the Mumbai International Airport, and other relevant departments.

Subsequently, the police, along with other security agencies, initiated search operations. The airline swiftly deboarded all passengers and conducted a thorough check of the flight, but found nothing, ultimately determining the call to be a hoax.

However, due to the hoax call, the Mumbai-Srinagar flight scheduled for the afternoon departure was delayed by half an hour. However, the police have not disclosed the name of the airline or the flight details that received the threat.

According to police sources, the team assigned to track the caller has determined that the call originated from Kerala. The officer suggested that the caller's motive might have been to create problems for family members or relatives who were travelling on the flight. However, the exact reason will become clear once the caller is arrested.

In this incident, the Sahar police registered an FIR against an unidentified individual under section 353(1)(b) (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita on September 4.