Hoax threat on Jet: Cops seize laptop, printer used by Mumbai businessman to write note

The Ahmedabad police on Tuesday visited the Thane office of Birju Kishore Salla, the businessman who left a hoax note in the lavatory of a flight in mid-air, and seized the laptop and printer allegedly used to write and print the note.

On Monday, the Jet Airways flight was on its way from Mumbai to Delhi when a flight attendant found the note, which threatened to hijack the plane, leading to an emergency landing at Ahmedabad airport. Salla, 36, who was detained on the same day for questioning by the Ahmedabad crime branch, was formally arrested on Monday night and charged under the new Anti-Hijacking Act, 2016, said Deepan Bhadran, deputy commissioner of Ahmedabad crime branch.

After the aircraft landed at Ahmedabad around 3.45am, passengers were searched and Salla, whom flight attendants suspected, was taken to the crime branch office for interrogation.

He claimed that he wrote the letter because he was served breakfast with a cockroach aboard a Mumbai-Rajkot flight on July 6, 2016. At that time, the airline had apologised for the food and offered him a replacement.

The police will submit the details of the case to the Airports Authority of India, which will then start proceedings to put him on the no-fly list. Manoj Gangal, director of Ahmedabad airport, said the letter will be sent to the state government, which will give it to the concerned authorities.