On Monday, 21 January security agencies recovered a low intensity Improvised Explosive Device (IED) from Mangaluru International Airport. Soon after, multiple unverified claims about the incident started doing rounds on social media.
CLAIM
In one such case, the founder of Postcard News – a so-called news website which has been caught peddling fake news on several occasions –Mahesh Vikram Hegde, shared a message on his Twitter account giving the incident a communal angle.
“Days ago, Jihadis almost burnt Mangalore city. Now a live bomb has been detected in Mangalore International Airport. Bcoz of few traitors, Jihadis are getting more power. But if police take action against masterminds behind these, Politicians come to their rescue! Disgusting (sic)” reads the claim.
The message is also being circulated on Facebook and Twitter with captions having communal overtones.
TRUE OR FALSE?
False.
The Quint could confirm that the claim being made is absolutely false. The accused identified in the case is not a Muslim, but a man named Aditya Rao who surrendered to the police on Wednesday, 22 January.
On Wednesday morning, Rao reportedly approached the Director General of Police’s office, claiming that he was the person who had planted the IED. He was subsequently taken into custody by the Usloor Gate police and further investigation in the case is underway.
WHAT WE FOUND
As per the initial investigation, the suspect has been identified as Aditya Rao.
According to the police, the man in their custody is a habitual offender. He was arrested in 2018 for making a series of hoax calls to Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport and the Krantivira Sangilli Rayanna (KSR) city railway station. According to police, he was upset about not getting a job as a security personnel at the airport.
Further, in a tweet, IPS Harsha confirmed that officials of Mangaluru City Police will be in Bengaluru to investigate the developments in the case.
WHAT IS THE INCIDENT?
On Monday, 20 January, parts of an IED were found near a ticketing counter at the Mangaluru International Airport. According to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), a person kept a bag and left it unattended outside the airport.
The IED, however, did not have a charging mechanism and trigger operation, CISF officials said. “In other words, it had explosives, but it was not a live bomb. We suspect the explosive was silver power,” said Anil Pandey, DIG, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
The explosive device was later destroyed in a controlled explosion in the outskirts of Mangaluru city on Monday evening.
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