Bomb hoax lands father-son in lock-up

GANDHINAGAR - A father-son duo who triggered a bomb scare in a desperate bid to catch a flight to be on time for the funeral of a dear one in Germany have ended up in the police lock-up instead.

In the early hours of Wednesday, the Ahmedabad city police control received a phone call warning of a bomb in Air India’s Frankurt bound flight which was set to explode on take-off. The control room alerted the Sardar Patel international airport authorities in Ahmedabad and the plane which had taxied for take-off was immediately summoned back and ringed by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) jawans.

With a general alert already in force at the airport, the entire security drill was gone through in minute detail with commandos and the bomb squad on alert and the fire brigade tenders standing by. The passengers were taken off the flight and after a complete check of the plane, including sanitation by the dog squad, nothing was found. The flight thereafter left over four hours behind schedule at 7 a.m.

According to the police, an FIR was registered at the Sardarnagar police station and investigations began. The call was traced to Nadiad and the cops zeroed in on Mahendra Patel who spilled the beans under questioning.

It transpired that Mahendra’s grandson based in Frankurt had died of brain hemorrhage.

Accompanied by another son Gaurang, Mahendra sought to make a desperate dash from their home in Nadiad to catch the Frankfurt bound flight from Ahmedabad. While on the highway itself, they realized that it was time for the take-off and they may miss the flight.

As a desperate gamble, they made the hoax call to delay the flight. The two succeeded in their bid but were deterred by the big posse of policemen at the airport and quietly turned back to reach home. The cops, however caught up with them Wednesday night and took them for interrogation, resulting in the disclosure and their arrest.