Jeweller left hijack note in flight to get his girlfriend to quit Jet Airways, may face life imprisonment

In a bizarre turn of events, the jeweller responsible for planting the hijack note in the washroom of the Mumbai-Delhi flight allegedly did so to  coax his girlfriend into quitting her job with Jet Airways and move to Mumbai.

The Mumbai-based businessman, Birju Kishore Salla, was arrested on Tuesday under the stringent Anti-Hijacking Act.

This is the first arrest under the Act which came into force in July 2017, replacing the 1982 vintage law, according to which an accused can face a maximum punishment of life imprisonment till death and his properties can be confiscated.

“We have arrested him under the Anti-Hijacking Act sections. This is the first arrest under the Act after it came into force,” Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) J K Bhatt said.

“We are in contact with the National Investigation Agency. The case may be handed over to the NIA if the Centre wants,” he said.

“Salla is a multi-millionaire jeweller, having a flat in a posh locality of Mumbai. He is originally from Dedan village of Amreli district,” a police official told PTI.

“The accused had planted the note with an intention to close down Jet Airways so that his girlfriend working in the Delhi-based office of the airline would leave her job and come to stay with him in Mumbai,” Bhatt said.

Incidentally, Salla had also complained of finding a cockroach in the food served on a Jet Airways flight last year.

“We are investigating if he is in contact with any other anti-social groups. We have not found any other offence against him,” Bhatt said.

The Mumbai-Delhi Jet Airways flight, with 115 passengers and seven crew members on board, had on Monday made an emergency landing after a note stating that there were hijackers and a bomb on board was found in the plane’s washroom.

The Boeing 737-900 plane was parked at a remote bay of Ahmedabad airport and all 122 people on board safely deplaned.

The note, printed in Urdu and English, stated that there were hijackers and a bomb in the cargo area, and directed the pilot to fly the plane straight to PoK (Pakistan occupied Kashmir).

“Flight number 9W 339 is covered by hijackers and aircraft should not land and be flown straight to POK. 12 people on board. If you put landing gear you will hear people dying. Don’t take it as a joke. Cargo area contains explosives and will blast if you land in Delhi. Allah is great,” the note read.