BENGALURU: AN Air Asia flight from Bengaluru to Kochi was delayed by almost seven hours due to a bomb hoax after a young couple from Bengaluru, who was getting late to reach the airport, asked relatives in Kerala to “do something to delay the flight”. The flight, which was to take off at 8.45pm on Wednesday, finally took off only at 3.30am on Thursday. But the couple, Neha Gopinathan and Arjun, who was to get engaged in Kerala on Thursday, is currently in police custody.
The drama began on Wednesday night when authorities at Kempegowda International Airport received a call that a bomb had been placed on the Kochi-bound Air Asia I5 1129. The flight was to take off at 8.45pm and the call came at 8.31pm. All 180 passengers who had boarded the plane were asked to get their luggage re-screened. The plane finally took off at 3.30am on Thursday, over six hours later, after authorities realised there was no bomb and that someone had played a prank.
During preliminary investigation, the suspicion fell on Arjun and Neha. Both residents of BTM Layout, the couple runs a teaching academy in the city. Police found that the duo had called Air Asia authorities multiple times requesting to delay the departure as they were stuck in traffic and getting late to reach the airport. But authorities had refused their requests.
The couple reached the airport at around 8.59pm by which time the hoax call had been made. They requested to board the flight as it had been delayed. Getting suspicious, police questioned them and found that the couple was to go to Mavelikkara near Alappuzha for their engagement. The bomb threat call was also traced to the same place.