New Delhi: A 60-year-old man has been sent to imprisonment till the rising of the court by a Delhi court for making hoax call in 2010 to a private airline that some terrorists have boarded the flight and they may be carrying explosives.
Metropolitan Magistrate Jagminder Singh held Raj Bajaj guilty after he admitted his guilt through plea bargaining.
He had been convicted under section 182 IPC (giving false information with an intent to cause public servant to use his lawful power to the injury of another person) and section 66 A (hacking with computer) of Information and Technology Act.
The court noted that the man had paid Rs 30,000 and Rs 25,000 compensation to complainant Nilesh Madurwar, Manager of Security of Indigo Airlines, and to the Delhi government respectively.
It took into account "the nature of the offence", the facts and circumstances of the present case and "the economic, social and family background of the convict, ailing physical conditions of convict and the fact that convict has admitted his guilt and compensated the complainant and apologised for the same..."
"...And in view of beneficial provision of plea bargaining and reformative theories of punishment, convict (Singh) is sentenced with simple imprisonment till rising of the court with a fine of Rs 1,000 for the offences...," the court said.
The airlines manager had said in his complaint that on September 3, 2010, Singh had made a hoax call from his mobile to the office of Indigo Airlines stating that he got an information from his friend that some terrorists had boarded the flight 6E 309 from Lucknow and they may be carrying some explosives. An FIR was lodged at Domestic Airport Police Station here.
The message was conveyed to all the officials concerned and the aircraft was taken into an isolated parking area and all the security checks were carried out, he said.
He said after the primary investigation, the bomb threat assessment committee declared that it was a hoax call which caused unnecessary fear and panic among the passengers, staff and other agencies, besides heavy financial loss to the airline and the authorities.
A Hyderabad resident, Singh apologised for his guilt and sought leniency on the ground that he was not a previous convict and was obese and suffering from kidney, heart and other health problems.
