More than three months after an anonymous person threatened that a bomb would explode at the Tiruchi international airport, the city police arrested the man who allegedly made the call. The accused S. Alexander (27), a native of Kumulur near Lalgudi, against whom a look-out circular was issued earlier, was detained when he arrived at the Chennai international airport from Kuwait on Tuesday. He was handed over to the Tiruchi city police. During enquiry Alexander, who worked as a driver in Kuwait, reportedly confessed to have made the call, sources said.
A hoax
The Tiruchi airport terminal manager received a call in the early hours on February 17 from an anonymous caller who threatened that a bomb would go off at around 8 a.m. Anti-sabotage team of the city police which carried out thorough checks at the airport could not find any explosive substance.
The airport police launched a probe based on information that the call came from a mobile number and traced its owner. It was found that the mobile number was in the name of a fancy store owner residing in BHEL area.
The store owner had reportedly given the instrument to a young woman who worked in the store. Based on an inquiry with her, a look-out circular was issued against Alexander. It came to light that Alexander who had loved the employee was reportedly upset with her marriage fixed with Prabhakaran who works in Saudi Arabia. There were heated exchanges between Alexander and Prabhakaran in the facebook accounts over this issue. Alexander allegedly hatched a plot to fix the woman. He reportedly sent a voice mail containing the threat message to the woman asking her to send it to a telephone number of the airport.
Making use of some software, he allegedly sent the voice mail message to the airport making it appear that it was sent through the mobile number of the woman. He reportedly confessed to have made the threat call using the voice mail mode. He was arrested and sent for remand on Wednesday.
The airport police booked a case against him under IPC Section 507 (criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication) read with Information Technology Act.
