Mumbai: Class 12 student arrested for threatening Akasa Air flight on Twitter

A Class 12 student from Gujarat has been arrested by the Mumbai Police for reportedly tweeting that an Akasa Air aircraft "will go down."

The 18-year-old student had tweeted "AkasaAir Boeing 737 Max will go down."

According to an official, the police identified the IP address of the tweet to be from Surat in Gujarat during their investigation. Consequently, they dispatched a team to Surat where they arrested the student on March 27.

The private airline filed a complaint at the Airport Police Station in Mumbai following the tweet, which led to the registration of an FIR against unidentified individuals under Indian Penal Code Sections 505 (related to statements causing public mischief) and 506(2) (related to criminal intimidation), according to a police official.

According to the official, during the questioning, the suspect admitted that he had an interest in aircraft and had no idea about the serious consequences of his social media post.

According to the official, the student also claimed that he did not intend to cause any disruption. The accused was granted bail on a surety of Rs 5,000 after spending a day in custody as he was reportedly taking exams at the time.