For most, a romantic getaway with their beloved is a date etched in the calendar, but for one Indian man the idea was so off-putting he made a hoax airplane hijack threat to get out of the trip with his girlfriend.
The now presumably single, M. Vamshi Krishna, who reportedly sent an email to Mumbai police warning of hijack attempts at three Indian airports last week, was arrested by police in Hyderabad on Thursday.
Krishna sent an anonymous email last week presenting himself as a concerned Indian woman who overheard a group of 23 men plotting a string of hijackings at the Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai airports.
The airports, some of India’s busiest, were all put on high alert following the threat, with special anti-sabotage sweeps carried out at each. The apparent threat made headlines around the world.
Travel agent Vamshi Krishna had reportedly promised his girlfriend a trip to Mumbai, but was unable to muster the courage to tell her he had no money and devised an inconceivable plot to cancel the rendezvous.
“He created a situation so that flights were cancelled,” Hyderabad Police Commissioner M. Mahender Reddy told The Hindu.
“He promised his girlfriend living in Chennai that he would take her on a jolly trip to Mumbai by flight but had no money to book the ticket,” added Commissioner Reddy.
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Krishna created a fake airline ticket, from Chennai to Mumbai, in his girlfriend's name and mailed it to her.
The day before Krishna’s girlfriend was scheduled to depart, he went to an internet cafe, created a fake email address, and mailed the hijack threats to Mumbai Police.
The email reportedly ended with the line, “Don’t try to find me because you won’t be able to."
This statement now seems quite premature, as police traced the origin of the email to the internet cafe where it was sent, leading them directly to Vamshi Krishna who confessed to his crimes.