Cancer patient arrested over hoax hijack threat on Air India flight at Kolkata airport

Kolkata: A 56-year-old cancer patient has been arrested in connection with the hoax hijack alert at a Mumbai-bound Air India flight on November 10, following which the flight had to be taken to the isolation bay at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata, as a result of which the departure of the flight was delayed for around seven hours.

The accused has been identified as Partha Pratim Nandi. He was first arrested by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel deputed for security at the airport and later handed over to cops of the NSCBI Airport Police Station under the Bidhannagar City Police, under which the airport comes.

Sources aware of the development said that during interrogation, Nandi confessed that he planted the hoax hijack alert note on the flight, which resulted in the following chaos. He has also confessed to the reason that prompted him to take such a step, which was quite tragic.

Nandi claimed that both he and his wife were cancer patients, and he was first supposed to move to Mumbai and subsequently from there to Africa for a job. However, as per his confession, he was unwilling to leave his cancer-affected wife alone in Kolkata and go to faraway Africa. As per his confession, he was in a disturbed state of mind while leaving the city on Wednesday, and committed the act of planting the hoax hijack alert note on the Air Flight, which he was supposed to take to Mumbai.

“I understand the tragic circumstances under which the accused had committed this act. But what he has done is strictly punishable under the law. Because of his act, so many other passengers who were supposed to fly to Mumbai, some with urgent purposes, including scheduled medical appointments, had to suffer. So, the law will take its own course,” a Bidhannagar City Police officer said.

On Wednesday, the pilot received the threat as the flight was preparing for take-off and immediately alerted Air Traffic Control (ATC). The flight was immediately shifted to an isolation bay, and security personnel immediately started search operations. Finally, the hijack alert turned out to be a hoax. The note warning that the plane would be hijacked was recovered in the flight’s toilet, which was noticed by someone.