The Mumbai police have registered a case against an unidentified person after three airlines received bomb threats on their X handle. Indigo Airlines, Air India and Vistara received threats on Monday, and they turned out to be a hoax after verification, the official from Sahar police station said. With this, the city police have registered 14 FIRs this month in connection with bomb threats to airlines.
An X user identifying himself as "I want to slit your throat" sent the threats from the handle @Mandaimassacre. ''Hi, there are bombs onboard of the MENTIONED planes. Many lives will be lost today," read the tweet, containing flight numbers.
An official from Indigo Airlines approached the police and lodged an FIR under relevant sections of the Aircraft Act and Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS). This is the 14th FIR related to bomb threats registered with the Sahar police station between October 14 and 28. The police solved one out of the 14 cases, with the arrest of a 17-year-old student from Chhattisgarh.
Govt takes step to mitigate hoax bomb threats
Meanwhile, the government has started efforts to identify behind the menace and asked social media platforms such as Meta and X to provide data related to these messages to aid in the investigation.The government has also asked for cooperation from leading multinational technology companies to assist in identifying individuals responsible for these hoax calls, emphasising that this effort serves the public good.
Earlier this week, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said the government plans to take legislative actions to deal with instances of bomb threats to airlines, including placing perpetrators of such threats in the no-fly list.
(With PTI inputs)
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