Court convicts CA for 2009 mid-air hijack drama

45-year old Jitender Kumar Mohla has been convicted under section 3(1)(d)of the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act of 1982 dealing with offences on board an aircraft and various IPC Section and faces maximum punishment of up to life term.

Besides the Aviation Act, the court convicted Delhi-based Mohla under various provisions of the IPC dealing with endangering life or personal safety of others and criminal intimidation and reserved its order on quantum of sentence for October 30.

"The accused Mohla is convicted under 3(1)(d) of the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation and 336/506/170 of the IPC," District Judge I S Mehta said.

The court, however, acquitted Mohla for the offence under the Anti Hijacking Act observing that nothing incriminating was found from his possession when he was arrested on February 2, 2009.

"Since, nothing was found in the possession of the accused at the time of his arrest and there is no evidence on record to show that the accused entered into the cockpit, the prosecution case under section 3 (2) and 4 under the Anti Hijacking Act 1992 fails," the judge said.

According to the police, Mohla had allegedly entered into the cockpit on February 1, 2009 and had sparked panic by claiming that he has hijacked the plane while he was on the flight. (MORE)