The man whose twitter handle was found to be behind Thursday’s bomb hoax on an international Jet Airways flight has been traced to Jaipur, police said here Friday.
“We have traced the man. He is currently living in Jaipur and we have accordingly informed the police there today,” Ludhiana Police Commissioner Pramod Ban said.
Ludhiana Police succeeded in establishing contact over the phone on Friday with 25-year-old Surinder Pratap, who has admitted to having posted the tweet, said Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner of Police, Naveen Singla. “He has been working in Jaipur for some time now and is employed as an HR executive with an MNC,” the DCP said.
A Dubai-bound Jet Airways flight from Mumbai with 61 passengers and crew had made an emergency landing at Muscat airport on Thursday following a tweet about the presence of a bomb on board. The flight was later cleared for onward travel after the message turned out to be <g data-gr-id="21">hoax</g>.
Preliminary investigation by Ludhiana Police suggested that Pratap, who is around 25 years of age, “opened his twitter account four to five days back”. The tweet – “Bomb spotted on Jet Airways 9W 536 from Mumbai to Dubai departure at 1225 from CSIA” (Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport)– triggered the scare after it was noticed by a Jet Airways staff who informed Mumbai ATC about it. The message was relayed to the Muscat ATC at 1.55 P.M. following which the plane was diverted.