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Now, Birju Salla questioned in 2 more bomb threat cases
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Ahmedabad: Birju Salla, a businessman from Mumbai who gained infamy as the first person to be convicted under the amended Anti-Hijacking Act for the hijack threat on a Jet Airways flight in 2017, has been detained by the Ahmedabad crime branch police yet again on suspicions of planting a bomb threat note on another flight in November last year and a threat note received by city airport in January this year.
While Salla is being questioned with regard to threat notes, the city crime branch arrested him on Wednesday in connection with a case of fraud he allegedly committed in Mumbai. After knowing about Salla's arrest, a team of EOW of Mumbai police reached the city crime branch office to take Salla's custody, sources said.
Salla is suspected to be behind a bomb threat note found on an IndiGo Airlines' Lucknow-Jeddah flight on Nov 10, 2024, just before its scheduled departure.
On Wednesday morning, the Ahmedabad crime branch picked up Salla for questioning from a five-star hotel on Ashram Road in the city, where he had reportedly checked in under a false identity after being recently named in a Rs 12.77 crore fraud by a Mumbai jeweller. Besides the bomb hoax charges, officers said he may also be booked for using forged documents to assume a new identity.
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On Oct 30, 2017, Salla threw an entire airline into chaos with planting a hijack threat in the plane toilet, and was convicted for life by a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court.
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He was acquitted of the charges in 2023 by the Gujarat high court for lack of evidence after spending six years in prison.
A crime branch officer said, "Salla again wanted to take revenge on a person who is yet to be confirmed, and planted another piece of paper last year with 'bumb' written on it. There is multiple evidence showing he was behind those threats."
On Nov 10 last year, the bomb threat was found taped to the seat of a commode on the IndiGo flight with 158 passengers including two children, just before its scheduled departure from Ahmedabad at 10.55pm.
A crew member spotted the note at 10.38pm during routine checks. Following security protocols, all passengers were deboarded, and a thorough search was conducted. No explosive was found. Authorities declared the incident a hoax.
The flight had a scheduled halt in Ahmedabad, said a crime branch officer.
The officer said, "Another such threat was issued for the city airport in January this year. Both cases were filed with Airport police and the complaint pertaining to the threat received in November last year was transferred to the city crime branch for investigation."
On June 10 this year, Mumbai's Shailesh Kantilal Jain, who runs a handmade jewellery business from Zaveri Bazaar and has known Salla professionally for years, filed an FIR against him with Mumbai police's Economic Offences Wing.
The 56-year-old's FIR states, "On Nov 18, 2024, Salla allegedly took jewellery worth Rs 14 crore from Jain on an approval basis." Salla allegedly returned only Rs 1.47 crore worth of goods between Nov 25 and Dec 20, 2024, but the remaining articles worth Rs 12.77 crore (including GST), was never returned, Jain has alleged and has submitted copies of signed approval vouchers, post-dated cheques, and screenshots of conversations as evidence.
Based on the complaint, Mumbai police booked Salla for cheating and criminal breach of trust. A crime branch officer said that Salla approached a Mumbai court with his anticipatory bail plea, which was rejected on June 27. "After that, he allegedly went underground and used forged documents to hide in Ahmedabad. He forged an Aadhaar card and used a different identity to stay in the five-star hotel on Ashram Road but was finally caught," the officer said.
