Hyd man sent hijack email to airports to avoid trip with girlfriend, held

Hyderabad: A Hyderabad-based transport agent has found out -- much to the chagrin of three airport authorities -- that love is tricky.

Motaparthi Vamshi Krishna, who was arrested by the Hyderabad police today, sent an email to the Mumbai police chief last Saturday, warning of possible plane hijacks from Hyderabad, Mumbai and Chennai airports.

The reason? His Chennai-based cyber girlfriend wanted to vacation in Goa and had asked him to book her flight tickets from Chennai to Mumbai.

There was just one small problem. The transport agent, who claimed he was a hotshot businessman, was short on cash. 

Trapped, Vamshi sent the hoax mail to the police and fobbed the girl off with news that the Hyderabad, Chennai and Mumbai airports were in panic mode after a hijack threat.

Since Vamshi had identified himself as a woman from Hyderabad in the mail, Mumbai commissioner asked the Hyderabad police to investigate.

Vamshi wrote ‘she’ had overheard six people talking about simultaneous plane hijacks from these three airports. ‘She’ also said the 23-member hijack gang would split into three. 

The police traced the mail’s IP address to the E Net Zone Cyber Café in Madhuranagar. After analysing CC-TV footage, the police zeroed in on Vamshi.

Vamshi Krishna befriended the woman on Facebook three months ago, DCP, Commissioner’s Task Force, B Limba Reddy said. He had first asked her to drop the travel plans, but she insisted they go.

Reddy added: “He then thought of creating a fake air ticket for his friend to travel from Chennai to Mumbai. He abandoned the idea because the friend would have found out the ticket was fake and dumped him. So he created a fake email id instead and sent a hoax mail to the Mumbai Police Commissioner, identifying himself as a woman from Hyderabad.”

Vamshi, who is very active on social media, is a computer graduate from West Godavari. He is an old offender and was arrested in an extortion case and a cheating case in the city.

The police said Vamshi claimed to his social media friends that he was high-profile and rich.

Security was majorly stepped up at the Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai airports on April 16 following the hijack mail.