Love-struck Mumbai jeweller becomes first person to be put on no-fly list

The Jet Airways flight made the emergency landing after the pilot was alerted by the cabin crew about a note found in the plane’s washroom. The note warned of a hijack bid and about a bomb in the cargo bay of the plane. Salla, a multi-millionaire jeweller from Mumbai, had confessed to planting the note, hoping that his girlfriend working in the Jet Airways Delhi office would return to Mumbai after the carrier halts its operations.

According to the crime branch, the note asked the plane to be flown straight to POK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir). It ended with the words, “Allah is Great”. The reference to POK made investigators suspicious because Pakistan-based terrorists call the area ‘Azad Kashmir’.

The no-fly list was introduced following several unruly incidents involving passengers, including Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad who allegedly assaulted an Air India staffer at the Delhi airport for not being allowed to fly business class. The then Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju had said that the concept of a No-Fly List is based “on the concern for the safety of passengers, crew and the aircraft, and not just on security threat.”

Under the revised civil aviation requirement (CAR), a passenger can be considered to be placed under three categories of unruly behaviour, with category three bearing the harshest punishment. Salla has been placed under the third category. The focus of the new rules has been on ensuring on-board safety while maintaining an element of balance and safeguarding the interest of passengers, cabin crew and the airlines.