A businessman from Mumbai allegedly wrote "There is a bomb on the plane" on a piece of tissue paper inside the lavatory of a Jet Airways flight after his romantic proposal to an air hostess was rejected. He was later arrested and apologised for the act, investigators said.
According to officials, nearly 100 per cent of bomb threats reported on aircraft or at airports in recent years have turned out to be hoaxes. Even so, such messages cannot be ignored, and every alert triggers a full police investigation. During questioning in past cases, investigators have encountered a range of motives like mental health issues, mischief, business rivalries and even personal vendettas. A recurring factor, they say, is resentment. In the Jet Airways case, rejection in love emerged as a key trigger.
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On February 14, bomb messages were found on two IndiGo flights, one operating from Kolkata to Shillong and the other from Dibrugarh to Kolkata. Coincidentally, the day was Valentine’s Day. The timing has prompted investigators to revisit the earlier Jet incident and examine whether resentment linked to personal relationships could again be a factor.
Approximately 130 passengers travelled on the two flights combined. All of them have been issued notices and asked to appear at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport police station in Kolkata. The note recovered from the Shillong flight was written in English. Sources said handwriting samples of those who report to the station will be collected and compared with the written message.
In the Dibrugarh–Kolkata flight, however, the warning was written in lipstick on the lavatory mirror, leaving little scope for handwriting comparison.
Investigative challenges
In the past, bomb threats were often made through phone calls, making it easier to trace numbers. Later, threats shifted to email, allowing investigators to track IP addresses. More recently, warnings have appeared on tissue paper inside aircraft lavatories which is a method that makes identifying suspects far more difficult.
CCTV footage is typically crucial in such cases, but aircraft cabins usually have only one camera positioned outside the cockpit door. Pilots use it to see who is requesting entry. The system does not record footage, limiting its usefulness in investigations. Determining who entered the front or rear lavatories is therefore challenging.
Airline officials say four categories of people typically have access to aircraft lavatories: security personnel who inspect the aircraft after landing, cleaning staff, cabin crew and passengers. "In that sense, no one is beyond suspicion," an investigator said.
In the Kolkata–Shillong case, the note was discovered while the aircraft was still on the ground, meaning security personnel, cleaning staff, cabin crew and passengers are all under scrutiny. In contrast, the Dibrugarh–Kolkata message surfaced mid-air. Investigators have ruled out security and cleaning staff in that instance. Because the message was written in lipstick, female passengers and air hostesses are being examined more closely.
Bomb threats have significant operational consequences. Searches can delay departures by at least four hours, disrupting airline schedules and causing financial losses. On January 18, an IndiGo flight from Delhi to Bagdogra was diverted to Lucknow after a bomb scare in the lavatory.
Questions have also been raised about why airline staff would act in ways that harm their own company. Airport security officials note that there have been instances where employees, driven by grievances against their organisation, engaged in such acts.
The investigation into the Valentine’s Day incidents is ongoing.
