Hyderabad: RGI Airport on high alert following ‘hijacking’ warning

The message, sent from an unknown email address, raised concerns about Flight AI951 bound for Dubai

Hyderabad: The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) authorities have received a hoax bomb threat e-mail, following which an Air India flight from Hyderabad to Dubai was cancelled by authorities, officials said on Monday.

However, the mail was found to be a hoax message and another flight was arranged for the passengers to fly to Dubai.

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RGIA police said the incident occurred on October 8, when B.S.N.Reddy, the Chief Security Officer at Shamshabad received an e-mail to the official address.

“Please be careful with Thirupathi Baadineni. He is an ISI informer. He will board the Hyderabad-Dubai bound flight and hijack it. Many people at the airport are also involved. If possible, catch them. Today is a big day for India,” the mail read.

As per the norms, BTAC (Bomb Threat Assessment Committee) was convened to assess the threat message and after due consideration of all aspects, it was assessed as ‘Specific’.

Later, three persons – Thirupathi Baadineni, VInod KUmar and Rakesh Kumar were handed over to the police. Further, the woman who came to see off Thirupati is being interrogated.

Case is under investigation.