The Mumbai Police have arrested two individuals from Chhattisgarh for spreading false information about a bomb being placed on a flight via social media. The Sahar police had registered an FIR in connection with the case and initiated an investigation, which led them to Chhattisgarh. There, the police apprehended a shopkeeper running a footwear store and a minor involved in posting the fake news. The police are currently investigating the entire matter.
An official stated that the minor carried out the act due to a financial dispute between him and the shopkeeper. DCP Manish Kalwania confirmed that two people, including a minor, were taken into custody from Chhattisgarh. After further investigation, the police arrested 33-year-old Nirban Fazaluddin. The minor has been presented before the Juvenile Court. The incident reportedly occurred on Friday when rumors of a bomb on a flight quickly spread. The accused had shared this information on the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), causing the post to go viral.
According to police sources, the accused posted on X about bombs being placed on two Indigo flights and one Air India flight. The flights were scheduled to depart from Mumbai to New York, Muscat, and Jeddah. Upon receiving the information, Mumbai Police were alerted, and a thorough inspection of the flights was conducted, only to find no such threat. Subsequently, flight routes were altered, and some departures were delayed. Air India's flight AI119, bound for New York, which was scheduled to take off at 2:30 PM, was diverted to Delhi. Meanwhile, another Air India flight was taken to isolation. Indigo’s flight 6E1275, which was supposed to depart at 2:00 PM, finally took off at 9:00 AM the next morning, and Indigo flight 6E56, scheduled for 2:05 PM, took off at 1:14 PM.