MANGALURU: The investigation so far into the planting of the bomb at Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) has revealed that the accused Aditya Rao carried out the unlawful activity all by himself and no other person was involved in it, according to Mangaluru City Police Commissioner P S Harsha. Addressing a press meet, Harsha said the accused hatched a plan when he was lodged at Chikkaballapur prison, where he served punishment for making threat calls to Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) and railway station, after he could not land a job at KIA.
“He was an introvert and wanted to do more harm to the airport. He had an aversion for the airport. He chose MIA as it is the second most popular airport in the sate and joined a restaurant in the city as it would help him execute his plan,” said the commissioner. During his leisure time, Aditya, a BE and MBA graduate, used to research on explosives and its assembly through open source platforms online. Aditya Rao also did some experiments and assembling of explosives during his four weekly offs, and a few days before executing his plan, shifted his base from Mangaluru to another hotel in Karkala out of fear of being caught. In Karkala, he gave the final touch to the explosive, before planting it at MIA.
“He has technically sound knowledge of explosives and about the different categories of explosives and assembling. I cannot explain it before the media in detail. It will be like a tutorial on bomb making.”Hours after planting the bomb, he reportedly made a threat call to the airport, feeling that his plan was a success. He then spent a day in Sirsi and Shivamogga, after learning that police have launched a manhunt for him. Knowing that he will be caught, he surrendered to the police in Bengaluru after reaching there in a KSRTC bus.
To a query, the top cop said whether the accused wanted to explode the airport or just to create fear and whether a detonator was connected to the explosive devise will be known only after the FSL report on the residues of the explosive is ready.