RAIPUR: A bomb threat that led a Kolkata-bound IndiGo flight making an emergency landing at Raipur airport on Thursday morning turned out to be a hoax.
The flight left for its destination after thorough security checks of the entire aircraft by authorities and bomb squad for over three hours found nothing suspicious.
“The accused is a passenger Nilesh Mandal, 40, on board the same flight. He told one of the crew members that there is a dynamite placed inside the plane. Following the bomb threat the Kolkata-bound aircraft was diverted to Raipur. The accused is being interrogated at local Mana police station”, said Santosh Singh, Raipur senior superintendent of police.
The Raipur police had lodged an FIR following the compliant by the airport authority.
Mandal has been taken into custody for interrogation and he will soon be produced in the Raipur court later today, the police said.
Since last month, over 400 domestic and international flights operated by the Indian carriers have received hoax bomb threats. And most of the threats were issued through social media.