Kerala court sentences former contract employee in airport bomb case

10 years of rigorous imprisonment and C50,000 fine for planting a crude bomb on airplane
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Representative image
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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Second Additional District Sessions Court, Thiruvananthapuram, has sentenced a former employee of a private contract company to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 for planting a crude bomb on a Kingfisher flight at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport 15 years ago.

The sentence was pronounced by second additional district sessions judge G Rajesh. The accused in the case is Rajasekharan Nair, a former CRPF officer from Valiyarathala in Malayinkeezhu. Universal Aviation, a private contract company, was responsible for loading, unloading, and cleaning Kingfisher flights.

Rajasekharan Nair worked as a supervisor for the company and was known to behave harshly with the contract employees. In one instance, he took disciplinary action against an employee named Arun, which was later revoked by Kingfisher’s airport manager Girish. Girish also publicly reprimanded and humiliated Rajasekharan Nair, which led him to nurse a grudge against the manager.

On January 26, 2010, the accused suffered injuries after falling inside the aircraft. However, the manager reportedly refused to provide immediate medical assistance.

This intensified the animosity against the manager. Thinking that a security lapse during the manager’s tenure would lead to action against him, the accused decided to plant a crude bomb on the aircraft. He collected the bomb from a local temple festival in Valiyarathala and placed it among the catering trolleys in a flight arriving from Bengaluru to Thiruvananthapuram.

Additional Public Prosecutor A R Shaji appeared for the prosecution in the case.

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