In the first conviction under the amended anti-hijacking law, a special NIA court Tuesday awarded life term to a Mumbai-based businessman and also imposed a hefty Rs 5 crore fine for triggering a hijack scare on a Jet Airways plane in 2017.
After the incident on October 30, 2017, Birju Salla becamethe first person to be put under the “national no fly list” and wasalso the first to be booked under the stringent Anti Hijacking Act, which hadreplaced a vintage law of 1982. The new anti-hijack rules came into force inJuly 2017.
Holding Salla guilty of creating a hijack scare, the courtof special National Investigating Agency(NIA) judge K M Dave ordered that thefine amount to be given by Salla be distributed among the crew members and passengerson board the plane.
Salla was accused of creating a hijack scare by planting athreat note written in English and Urdu in the tissue paper box of theaircraft’s toilet.
The pilot and co-pilot of the flight will be given Rs 1 lakheach, the flight attendants will be given Rs 50,000 each, and 116 passengers onthe flight will be given Rs 25,000 each from the fine collected from Salla, thecourt said.
The NIA had in January last year filed a charge sheetagainst him under sections 3(1), 3(2)(a) and 4(b) of the Anti-Hijacking Act,2016.
The NIA had said Salla prepared a “threat note” inboth English and Urdu language and placed it “intentionally” in thetissue paper box of the toilet near the business class of the Mumbai-Delhi JetAirways flight 9W339 on October 30, thereby jeopardising the safety ofpassengers and crew on board.Salla was arrested after the plane made anemergency landing at the Ahmedabad airport after a female flight attendantfound the note in the washroom which read, “there are hijackers on boardand explosives on the plane”.