Terrorist with that name? Must be a prankster: Karti communalises Mangalore IED attempt

The son of former Home Minister P Chidambaram, Karti, sarcastically nudged a communal angle to the recent Mangaluru Airport bomb planter case. On January 22, a suspect named Aditya Rao surrendered before Bangaluru police in the case. In response to the news update, Karti Chidambaram accentuated on the "name" of the suspect, further citing that he must be a 'prankster, not a terrorist.'

In a tweet, Karti Chidambaram, sardonically directing a communal approach, said, "With a name like that how can he be a terrorist? Must be a prankster." In the probe, it was revealed that the suspect, identified as Aditya Rao was previously arrested for a bomb hoax call to Bengaluru Police. He surrendered before the security officials at Halasuru police station on Wednesday. 

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IED found at Mangaluru Airport

On Monday, the Central Industrial Security Force found an Improvised explosive device (IED) in a suspicious bag at the Manguluru airport in Karnataka. DIG Anil Pandey had informed that the bag was found at the ticket counter at the airport.  According to Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai, as soon as they received the information of a suspicious-looking bag through the CCTV camera, the CISF and the local police isolated it and moved it to a safer location. After the bomb squad arrived and checked the backpack, it detected bomb-making material in the bag. 

Apart from IED, the bag reportedly contained several other materials used in bomb-making including nails, battery, timer, detonator wire, and a switch. On Monday evening, the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) neutralised the bomb in a controlled explosion which ended in a white cloud at the Kenjir grounds. 

On Monday at around 3:15 pm, the airport authorities had also received a threat call claiming that a bomb was on board a flight from Mangalore to Bengaluru (6E-528). However, after search operations, it was reported that there were no explosives on the flight.  In view of the incident, the police had heightened security at all airports in Karnataka including Bangalore, Mangalore, Hubli, and Belagavi. Further, security was also been tightened around Mangaluru, Bengaluru, and Hubli.

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