Bomb or BOM-DEL? Man arrested over hoax threat he claims was a flight status check

A US citizen has been arrested in Mumbai, India after he called a helpline number and asked for the status of the “BOM-DEL” flight.

 

A man has been arrested for allegedly making a hoax bomb call at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.

 

Vinod Moorjani, a US citizen of Indian origin, was scheduled to take a connecting flight from Delhi to Rome en route to Virginia along with his wife and children.

 

The 45-year-old claims he called a helpline number and asked for the status of the “BOM-DEL” flight, referring to the Mumbai-Delhi route.

 

Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport has the airport code BOM, because Mumbai was formerly known as Bombay.

 

However, going by the operator’s version, she heard Mr Moorjani say ‘bomb hai’ (there is a bomb).

 

The fact that Moorjani, a CEO of a tech firm in the US, disconnected the call immediately after, heightened the operator’s suspicions.

 

Two hours later, the family were escorted off the plane and the man was arrested.

 

Police claim he made the threat in order to delay all outbound flights from Delhi so he would not miss a connecting flight.

 

On Monday, Moorjani’s lawyer argued that he called simply to enquire about the status of the flight, and had hung up very quickly because of a disturbance on the line.