Man, arrested for allegedly sending hoax bomb alert to IndiGo flight, turns out to be...

The man who was arrested for allegedly sending a hoax bomb alert on an IndiGo flight, headed from Nagpur to Kolkata last month, has turned out to be an officer of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Hindustan Times reported. 

Animesh Mandal, 44, is a deputy superintendent-rank IB official posted in Nagpur, Maharashtra, news agency PTI report said, citing the police.

On November 14, the arrested individual provided false information to the airplane officials prompting the flight with 187 passengers onboard to make an emergency landing, said the police. 

He allegedly told the crew of the flight that "there was a bomb on the plane". Following the alert, the flight was diverted to Raipur and after a thorough investigation, the information was found out to be false. 

According to the PTI report, Mandal has been held by Raipur Police under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) section 351 (4) (criminal intimidation by anonymous communication) and provisions of the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act, 1982. 

What Mandal's lawyers claimed?

Animesh Mandal's lawyer, Faizal Rizvi, has claimed that this client is innocent and that he provided the information after his source had informed him about a bomb on the plane. 

"Why did the police not disclose immediately that he is an IB official?” the lawyer asked while talking to reporters, as quoted by HT. 

Raipur Senior Superintendent of Police Santosh Singh said that the police had informed the IB immediately after the accused's detention, reported PTI. He further said that Animesh Mandal was arrested as per the law and that his act created panic and endagered the lives of passengers and crew members.