Ahmedabad: The city police has detained a passenger of a Mumbai-Delhi Jet Airways flight which was forced to make an emergency landing at the Ahmedabad airport today after a note stating that there were hijackers and a bomb on board was found in the washroom, a police officer said.

The passenger, identified as Birju Salla, a jeweller hailing from Rajula town in Gujarat’s Amreli district, was taken into custody based on suspicion after the plane landed here, he said.

Salla, who now lives in Mumbai, had in the past too done such a mischief with the airline out of some grudge, the police official said.

Earlier, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said the person responsible for the security threat on the Mumbai-Delhi Jet Airways flight had been identified and should be immediately put on the no-fly list.

“Salla was detained by police after preliminary investigation. He was on board the flight which made an emergency landing this morning. It was revealed that Salla had put the threat letter in the plane’s washroom. We will take necessary action against him,” the official said.

“This is the second time when Salla did such a mischief with Jet Airways. A few months ago, he tried to harass the airline using some other trick. It seems that Salla has some grudge against the airline,” he said.

He was being questioned by senior police officials at an undisclosed location.

Flight 9W 339, which had taken off from Mumbai at 2.55 am with 115 passengers and seven crew members, landed without incident at Ahmedabad around 3.45 am. The Boeing 737-900 plane was parked at a remote bay and all 122 safely deplaned, a Jet Airways spokesperson said.

The printed note, in Urdu and English, said the flight had 12 hijackers on board and a bomb in the cargo area and should be flown straight to PoK (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir).

Giving details of what had happened, Ahmedabad Airport Director Manoj Gangal said the flight was allowed to make an emergency landing on the pilot’s request.

The bomb disposal squad and the local police conducted a thorough search but found no explosive substance, said Sardarnagar police station inspector H B Zala.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: A Delhi court today allowed the CBI’s plea seeking advancing of hearing on its application on polygraph test on nine students in connection with JNU student Najeeb Ahmed who has been missing for over a year now.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal posted the matter for November 10 and sought the response of nine students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on the central probe agency’s application.

Najeeb, a first-year MSc Biotechnology student, has been missing from the Mahi Mandavi hostel in JNU since October 16, 2016.

The CBI, in its plea, had sought early hearing on its application seeking consent of nine students for a lie detection test regarding the disappearance of Najeeb in October last year.

The CBI had on October 16 approached the court seeking early hearing of its plea seeking consent of the suspect students for a polygraph test.

The application was moved by the agency on the direction of the Delhi High Court for an early hearing of the plea, which has been adjourned to January 24, 2018.

27-year-old Najeeb went missing after a scuffle at his JNU hostel allegedly with ABVP activists. The RSS students wing has denied any involvement in his disappearance.

A Delhi court had on May 3 quashed a police order summoning nine JNU students for recording their consent or denial for lie-detector test in the case after it noted a defect in the notice sent by the investigating officer to the students.

On May 16, the high court handed over probe of the case to the CBI.

The nine students, who are suspects in the case, had approached a magisterial court challenging the notice sent to them by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police seeking their presence before the magistrate for recording of their statement.

The notice was sent after the Delhi High Court had asked the police to explore other avenues of probe as all other leads had not yielded any result.

(Agencies)

Meerut: A 100-year-old woman died on Monday after being unwell and allegedly being raped by a drunk youth in Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh.

Police said that the victim, who was unwell, lived in Jaani village with her brother. The police told that the youth was drunk when he allegedly raped the 100-year-old woman.

The youth has been identified as Ankit Punia. He was trying to escape when her cries were heard by her brother and neighbours who overpowered Punia and handed him over to police.

Police officials said since the woman had died, relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) would be added in the case against the youth. Punia claimed he was innocent and had not committed any crime.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: A constitution bench would be set up to hear a clutch of petitions challenging the Centre’s decision to make Aadhaar mandatory for availing various services and government welfare schemes, the Supreme Court today said.

A bench, comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, said the larger bench would commence hearing on these petitions in the last week of November this year.

Earlier today, the apex court questioned the West Bengal government for filing a plea challenging the Centre’s move to make Aadhaar mandatory for availing benefits of various social welfare schemes while asking how a state can challenge the mandate of Parliament.

It also asked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to file the plea as an individual.

Recently, a nine-judge Constitution bench had held that the Right ot Privacy was a Fundamental Right under the Constitution. Several petitioners challenging the validity of Aadhaar had raised the issue that the scheme was violative of privacy rights.

Senior advocates Gopal Subramanium and Shyam Divan, appearing for those opposing the Aadhaar scheme, had sought urgent hearing on the petitions.

The Centre had on October 25 told the apex court that the deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar to avail the benefits of the government schemes has been extended till March 31 next year for those who do not have the 12-digit biometric identification number and were willing to have it.

The petitioners had termed the linking of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) number with bank accounts and mobile numbers as illegal and unconstitutional and strongly objected to the CBSE’s move to make it mandatory for students to appear for exams.

Divan, appearing for some of the petitioners, had earlier contended that final hearing in the main Aadhaar matter, which is pending before the apex court, was necessary as the government “cannot compel” citizens to link their Aadhaar with either bank accounts or mobile numbers.

(PTI)

Gandhinagar: Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Friday night demanded resignation of Congress veteran Ahmed Patel from the Rajya Sabha alleging his possible links to a suspected terrorist arrested earlier in the week from his home district of Bharuch. Ahmed Patel rubbished the charge.

Rupani, who also sought Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s clarification on the matter, was referring to Mohammed Qasim Stimberwala, one of the two alleged IS operatives arrested by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad from Surat on Wednesday.

Stimberwala had resigned recently as an eco-cardiogram technician in the Sardar Patel Hospital and Heart Institute in Ankleshwar, which Patel had helped grow into a modern facility.

Patel was one of the trustees during the hospital’s formative years as a modern hospital and the only one in the entire Bharuch district with latest equipment and technology with facilities for heart surgery. He had resigned as a trustee in 2014 facilitating a new board of trustees to take over the facility.

The ATS, which picked up Stimberwala and Ubed Ahmed Mirza, claimed that they were planning to attack a Jewish synagogue in Khadia area of Ahmedabad and had even carried out reconnaissance of their target.

While Mirza was a practicing lawyer at the Surat district court, Stimberwala worked as a technician at the Ankleshwar hospital.

Rupani told reporters at the 9.30 p.m. press conference, which was delayed by more than three hours, that Stimberwala, caught by Intelligence Bureau and security agencies, was working at a Bharuch hospital where Patel had been a trustee and though resigning after UPA lost power, “still oversees in the working of the hospital”.

The hospital’s website has a list of eight trustees but Patel’s name does not figure in the list.

Rupani claimed that the “arrest of a person working in a hospital where Ahmed Patel was a patron gave rise to several questions as how did a terrorist get a job in a hospital having close links with Ahmed Patel? Who got him the job? Whether he was aware of their activities?”

“The questions arise because the terrorist had resigned or was to quit just two days ahead of his arrest. This arouses suspicion. We are not levying any allegations but we just want Patel and Congress to clarify. If people are convinced, then it is ok,” he said.

He went on to say that if the terrorists had not been caught, they would have carried out planned attacks on “Hindu religious heads and Jewish synagogue”. The ATS however has mentioned only a Jewish synagogue during its investigations and no Hindu religious heads, as Rupani alleged.

Ahmed Patel, in a series of tweets, said the allegations by the BJP were completely baseless.

“My party and I appreciate the ATS’s effort to nab the two terrorists. I demand strict and speedy action against them.

“We request that matters of national security should not be politicised keeping elections in mind,” he said and also urged: “Let’s not divide peace loving Gujaratis while fighting terrorism.”

One of the trustees, Jayesh Patel, clarified that Stimberwala had joined the hospital six months ago, after having worked with Wockhardt and a couple of other hospitals.

“He had resigned on October 4 and relieved on October 24 according to his service conditions. He had said that he was leaving due to a better opportunity,” he said.

(IANS)