Class XII Student Arrested For Threatening Tweet

Mumbai: Police have arrested a Class XII student from Gujarat for tweeting that an aircraft of Akasa Air will go down.

The private airline lodged a complaint at the Airport Police Station here, based on which an FIR was registered against unidentified persons under IPC sections 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) and 506(2) (criminal intimidation), an official said.

On investigation, police traced the IP address of the tweet to Gujarat’s Surat. A team of Mumbai Police was sent to Surat and the 18-year-old student – who had tweeted “Akasa Air Boeing 737 Max will go down” — was arrested on March 27, reported PTI.

The boy told police he was interested about aircraft and didn’t realise repercussions of such a post on social media, and that his intention was not to create chaos, the official said.

The teenager was released on a bail of Rs 5,000 after being kept in custody for a day as his exams are going on.