Delhi Man's Arrest Highlights Rising Hoax Threats in Aviation Sector

Shubham Upadhyay, a 25-year-old from Uttam Nagar, Delhi, was arrested for posting hoax bomb threat messages to a flight at IGI Airport. The police traced the emails to Upadhyay, who admitted to the act, inspired by similar news on TV. The situation is under investigation.

In a concerning development, Shubham Upadhyay, aged 25 and residing in Uttam Nagar, Delhi, has been taken into custody for allegedly sending bomb threat messages to a flight at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport. These messages, which were eventually found to be hoaxes, aimed to mimic sensational news he had seen on television. Deputy Commissioner of Police Usha Rangnani confirmed that the messages were indeed traced back to Upadhyay's email account.

The arrest followed intense manual intelligence and technical surveillance efforts. Upadhyay, a class 12 pass unemployed individual, confessed to dispatching the alarming messages intending to garner attention. The authorities have charged him under the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation Act and other legal provisions. The incident is part of a troubling trend of fake threats recently confronted by Delhi Police.

With more than 100 flights threatened in just 10 days, including an Akasa Air flight that was forced to return to Delhi, the situation has prompted a quick response from both the police and the Information and Technology Ministry. The latter has urged social media platforms to observe stricter protocols to curb misinformation, aiming to prevent such alarming incidents in the aviation sector in the future.

(With inputs from agencies.)