Bomb scare on Varanasi-bound flight at Delhi airport turns out hoax
New Delhi, May 28: A Varanasi-bound IndiGo flight received a bomb threat at the airport here on Tuesday morning but a search of the aircraft found it to be a hoax, police said.
The bomb scare prompted authorities to evacuate all the staff and 176 passengers onboard and launch a search operation, they said.
The passengers will be flown to Varanasi in another plane, which is expected to take off at 11 am, an IndiGo spokesperson said in a statement.
"At around 5 am, an information was received regarding a paper found in the lavatory of an Indigo flight scheduled to depart for Varanasi, with the phrase "bomb @5.30'' written on it," a senior police officer said.
A thorough inspection was conducted, the officer said, adding, "No suspicious items were found. It was a hoax threat. Further investigation is underway."
The officials said the threat was found written on a piece of paper in a lavatory by the pilot when the Indigo 6E2211 flight was preparing to leave from the Indira Gandhi International Airport.
A security operation was launched after the pilot informed the control room, they added.
"All necessary protocols were followed and the aircraft was taken to a remote bay as per guidelines by airport security agencies," the IndiGo spokesperson said.
All passengers were safely evacuated via the emergency exits," the spokesperson added.
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Traffic fraud: Fake 'no-entry' sticker racket busted in Delhi, mastermind among 3 held
New Delhi (PTI): Police here have busted a crime syndicate involved in traffic fraud and extortion, arresting three people including the alleged mastermind who sold fake stickers to help commercial vehicles bypass no-entry restrictions, an official said on Saturday.
The police said they dismantled a third organised syndicate linked to traffic-related frauds, with the arrest of Rinku Rana alias Bhushan, his associate Sonu Sharma and Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, who was also connected to another extortion syndicate.
According to the police, Rinku Rana was running a well-organised network that facilitated the movement of commercial goods vehicles during restricted hours by selling fake 'marka' or stickers for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per vehicle every month. The stickers were falsely projected as authorisation to evade traffic challans.
During raids, the police recovered Rs 31 lakh in cash, property documents worth several crores of rupees, over 500 fake stickers and six mobile phones allegedly used to operate the syndicate.
The crackdown followed a complaint filed by a traffic police officer in April this year after a commercial vehicle tried to evade checking by producing a fake sticker claiming exemption from enforcement action.
Investigation revealed that social media groups were being used to coordinate the illegal movement of vehicles and alert drivers about traffic police checkpoints, police said.
"A parallel system was being run to cheat drivers and vehicle owners while undermining traffic enforcement. On the basis of evidence, provisions related to organised crime under the BNS were invoked," a senior police officer said.
Sonu Sharma, the police said, managed social media groups through which stickers were sold and real-time alerts were circulated regarding traffic police movement. He also acted as a link between Rana and drivers operating in the field.
In a related development, Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, an associate of Rajkumar alias Raju Meena, who was earlier arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was also apprehended.
Mukesh allegedly helped extort money from transporters and was involved in blackmailing traffic police personnel by recording enforcement actions, the police said.
Investigators alleged the syndicate led by Rajkumar deployed drivers to deliberately violate traffic rules and secretly record police officials during challans, later using manipulated videos to extort money under threat of false allegations.
The police said that in total, eight accused belonging to three different organised crime syndicates linked to traffic frauds and extortion have been arrested so far.
Further investigation is underway to trace the remaining members, conduct financial probes, and analyse digital evidence recovered during the raids, officials added.
