Civil Aviation Ministry recommends Salla be tried under anti-hijack law

Civil Aviation Ministry has recommended to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) that it proceed with the case of Birju Kishore Salla under the anti-hijack law, Aviation Secretary R.N. Choubey said on Tuesday.

According to Choubey, the ministry has handed over the case to the NIA.

Salla has been alleged to have created a hijack scare on Jet Airways' Mumbai-Delhi flight on October 30, 2017.

"I am advising the airlines to put him on the no-fly list immediately, in addition to other statutory criminal action," Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju had tweeted on October 30.

On November 7, the NIA said that it had taken over the case wherein Jet Airways Mumbai-Delhi flight was diverted to Ahmedabad on October 30 following a security threat.

An NIA official that time said the case was taken over by the agency as Gujarat Police registered the case under the anti-hijacking law and arrested Salla, a Mumbai-based diamond businessman.

The flight 9W-339, with 122 passengers, including seven crew, made an emergency landing at the Ahmedabad airport after a letter warning about a hijack and bomb threat was discovered in one of the lavatories.

The pilot had alerted the Ahmedabad airport authorities about the threat letter, reported to be in Urdu and English.

The plane was taken to a remote bay at Ahmedabad airport and all passengers were disembarked and screened. It was later cleared for take-off.

--IANS

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