MANGALURU: A man and a woman, who were taken into custody after they set off panic on a Mumbai-bound 6E-5237 Indigo flight by sharing suspicious WhatsApp messages on Sunday, were let off on Monday by Mangaluru police who served them a notice asking them to appear on a later date. The duo told the police that the text messages were a mere joke.
The incident occurred on Sunday when the man who was on the flight and the woman who was at the airport terminal exchanged text messages. K P Bhopanna, who works as a manager at the Mangaluru International Airport (MIA), lodged a complaint with Bajpe police on Sunday night saying that he received information from the airport staff that a passenger had received a suspicious text from a woman which read, “among all the Muslims, you are the bomber”. The man replied to the message saying, “Can you see me. Did you see the salute. So cute, have a safe flight.”
“I immediately alerted the CISF personnel. Personnel from CISF, BDDS, Indigo Security and technical staff took the flight to the Isolation Bay and passengers were deplaned”, Bopanna said in his complaint.The two accused spoke about causing danger to the security of the flight and a co-passenger noticed the messages and informed an airhostess and the pilot. The pilot then informed the ATC and the flight was stopped from taking off, the complaint stated.
Later, the passengers and their luggage were frisked but no suspicious item was found. The flight which was scheduled to depart at 11 am took off six hours later. The man works in a company in Gujarat and the woman, Simran, is pursuing her studies. A case has been registered by the Bajpe police.