B'luru: Hoax bomb call made to airport, couple held for trying to delay flight

Bengaluru: A couple was arrested at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru early on Thursday morning, in connection with a hoax call made to delay the take-off of a Kochi-bound Air Asia flight.

According to a report in the Indian Express, Neha Gopinathan and Arjun, natives of Kerala who resided at the BTM Layout in South-East Bengaluru, were arrested after investigations showed that all other 180 passengers had boarded the flight on time, and the couple had enquired several times about the flight, stating that they were late to reach the airport due to a problem with their taxi.

The flight eventually took off six hours late.

According to the report, Assistant Commissioner of Police N Shivakumara said the police was informed, and the couple was arrested when they reached the airport. The couple claimed they needed to reach Kochi in the morning as their engagement was to take place that day.

One of the couple’s relatives called up the airport from a public telephone booth in Kochi around 8.31 pm on Wednesday and claimed that there were explosives in the AirAsia flight to Cochin. The flight, scheduled to take off at 8:45 pm, was thus delayed by six hours while bomb detection and disposal squads examined it.

The report quoted police as saying that the couple are working as instructors at a private teaching academy and their engagement was scheduled for Thursday. When they realised that they could not reach the airport on time, they used a relative to make a hoax call in order to delay the flight.

A police team may be dispatched to Kerala if the couple fail to reveal who exactly made the hoax call, said the report. Meanwhile, a case has been registered and the probe is underway.