IndiGo staffer held for hoax bomb call to Delhi airport

A 23-year-old staffer of budget carrier IndiGo was arrested for allegedly making a hoax call regarding a bomb on a Mumbai-bound flight on May 2, police said today. The accused, identified as Kartik Madhav Bhat, wanted to teach a lesson to the airlines since he had been warned about his poor performance, they added.

On May 2, a call about a bomb on a Mumbai-bound flight was received at the IndiGo Airlines Office in the Cargo Complex at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA). Subsequently, a few Mumbai-bound flights from the IGI airport were checked and the call was declared as a "hoax". The police zeroed in on Bhat, a resident of Pune, on the basis of the number from which the call was made and nabbed him.

During investigation, it was found that after passing his intermediate examination, the accused did Diploma in Hospitality and Aviation from Frankfinn Institute in 2013, the police said.

Thereafter, he started working in the aviation sector and was currently employed with the IndiGo Airlines as Customer Service Officer at the Pune airport, they said. During interrogation, he revealed that his job performance was not up to the mark and he had been given verbal notice to improve his performance in three months or face departmental action, said Sanjay Bhatia, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Airport).

He got depressed and made the call out of frustration and to teach a lesson to the airlines, the officer added. The SIM card used for making the hoax call has been recovered from the possession of the accused, the police said.

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