One passenger was apprehended on Thursday in connection with the hijack threat note found a day earlier on Air India flight AI 2772 from Kolkata to Mumbai, and was handed over to the NSCBI Airport Police Station, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata, said in an update reported by news agency ANI. Hindustan Times reported that the passenger's handwriting had been matched with the hijack threat note, Daily Jagran reported.

Source: ANI via Daily Jagran

News agency IANS identified the accused as Partha Pratim Nandi, 56. He was first detained by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel deployed for security at the airport and later handed over to the NSCBI Airport Police Station under the Bidhannagar City Police, IANS reported.

Source: IANS

Sources aware of the development told IANS that during interrogation Nandi confessed that he had planted the hoax hijack alert note on the flight. According to that reported confession, both Nandi and his wife are cancer patients, and he was supposed to travel first to Mumbai and then on to Africa for a job, but was unwilling to leave his cancer-affected wife alone in Kolkata. These details are based on the confession as reported by IANS and have not been independently confirmed in court.

Source: IANS

"I understand the tragic circumstances under which the accused had committed this act. But what he has done is strictly punishable under the law. Because of his act, so many other passengers who were supposed to fly to Mumbai, some with urgent purposes, including scheduled medical appointments, had to suffer. So, the law will take its own course," a Bidhannagar City Police officer told IANS.

Source: IANS

The earlier hoax that grounded the flight for hours

The arrest follows Wednesday's incident, when cabin crew found a handwritten note in the aircraft's lavatory at 10:37 am warning that the plane would be hijacked at 11:10 am. Kolkata airport director Vikram Singh said all 105 passengers were deboarded and the Airbus A320 was taken to an isolation bay. Statutory security checks found nothing suspicious and the threat was declared a hoax; flight AI 2772 finally departed at 5:38 pm, hours after its scheduled departure of around 10:30 am.

Source: ANI via Daily Jagran

Air India had not issued a statement on the arrest at the time of the latest reports. Hoax threat calls and notes on flights are treated as serious offences in India because they trigger full anti-hijack security protocols, ground aircraft and disrupt the travel of every passenger on board.