Maharashtra writer arrested for hoax bomb threats to airlines: report

Nagpur: A 35-year-old writer from Maharashtra’s Nagpur has been arrested for allegedly sending over 100 hoax bomb threats to targets including airlines, and the Prime Minister's Office, India Today reported.

Jagdish Uikey, who authored a book on terrorism available on Amazon, made threats through emails and phone calls and was arrested in Nagapur while arriving from Delhi.

A resident of Gondia, Uikey was previously arrested in 2021 in a similar case.

Police have seized his mobile phone and laptop and suspect that his motivation was to gain attention through a publicity stunt, not actual terrorism.

Uikey is reported to have sent several emails beginning in January claiming that bombs were planted in various locations.

Between October 25 and October 30, he allegedly threatened explosions at thirty locations in the country.

He issued threats to government officials and political leaders including Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

In one email he threatened to highjack 31 flights of airlines including IndiGo, Vistara, SpiceJet, and Air India.

He is reported to have claimed that six airports in the country are under the threat of the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group, prompting authorities to beef up security at all major airports.

He coded message using letters to represent locations with ‘M’ standing for markets, ‘R’ for railways and ‘A’ for airlines, which proved to be a difficult challenge for authorities to decipher.

Uikey, who is in the custody of Nagpur’s cyber police now, reportedly keeps on changing his stories and nevertheless questioning him, police found no links to any terrorist outfits.

In an email to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis he threatened a protest at Triloni Maidan in Nagapur if his request for a meeting within 24 hours was not met.

Nagpur Police reportedly tracked Uikey down through his IP address.