NIA files chargesheet against businessman in Jet Airways fake hijacking case
The investigating agency said Birju Salla had jeopardised the safety of the passengers and crew on board the flight.
The National Investigation Agency on Tuesday filed a chargesheet under the Anti-Hijacking Act against a businessman who had allegedly left a note with a hijack threat in a Jet Airways’ flight, ANI reported.
The note was found in the toilet of the business class on the Delhi-bound Jet Airways flight from Mumbai on October 30. It had claimed that 12 hijackers were on board the aircraft and that it should be flown to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, the Hindustan Times reported. After the note was discovered, the flight was diverted to Ahmedabad.
Mumbai-based businessman Birju Salla alias Amar Soni had confessed during questioning that he had left the note in the aircraft to destabilise the airline’s operations. The Ministry of Civil Aviation had asked the Home Ministry to direct the NIA to probe the case.
The NIA said it had been established after the investigation that Salla “had intentionally placed it in the tissue paper box of the toilet near the Business Class thereby jeopardising the safety of the passengers and crew members on board”.
“The probing team has collected sufficient oral, documentary, technical, forensic and material evidences against Salla, who has thus committed the offence as defined in sections of the Anti-Hijacking Act, 2016, which is punishable under the law,’’ the NIA statement said.