A special National Investigation Agency court in Ahmedabad sentenced Mumbai-based jeweller Birju Salla to life in prison on Tuesday for planting a hijack threat letter on a Mumbai-Delhi Jet Airways flight on October 30, 2017, The Indian Express reported. A Rs 5-crore fine was also imposed on Salla.
In May 2018, Salla became the first person to be put on the National No-Fly List. He was also the first person to be tried under the stringent Anti-Hijacking Act after it was amended in 2016, the Deccan Herald reported.
The Jet Airways flight was diverted to Ahmedabad after Salla’s note was found in the plane’s toilet close to the business class seats of the aircraft. All 115 passengers were made to disembark at the Ahmedabad airport and screened.
“Flight number 9w covered by hijackers and aircraft should not be land and flown straight to PoK [Pakistan-occupied Kashmir],” read the note, which was written in Urdu. “Twelve people on board. If you put landing gear you will hear the noise of people dying. Don’t take it as a joke…”
According to investigators, Salla was having an affair with a Jet Airways employee. He planted the letter since he wanted the woman to quit her job.
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