Man sends hoax bomb threat to airline, arrested

CHENNAI: The Central Crime Branch (CCB) of Chennai police on Saturday arrested a 27-year-old man on charges of sending a bomb hoax threat to Indigo Airlines earlier this week. Police said the accused, V Prasanna (27), had sent the hoax message in the name of his neighbour’s family in Perambur, as he had a rift with them.

On June 18, around 8:45am, the customer service centre of Indigo Airlines at Perumbakkam received a message about a bomb being placed on a Chennai-Mumbai flight which would go off in an hour.

The airlines alerted the cops who later found that it was a hoax. However, they filed a complaint with the Chennai police on Friday.

Police traced the message to have originated from an internet connection of a landline number in Thiruvaiyaru in Thanjavur district.

A police team arrested the accused from his home and also seized a mobile phone, modem and router. He was produced before the Saidapet court and sent to prison. The police have advised people to stay calm when such threats are received and inform them to take action.