Hijacker mentally ill, may be deported

Preliminary investigations have revealed that Chennai resident, Chandrababu Sasiraj, who attempted to hijack a jetliner at knife-point to an...

Preliminary investigations have revealed that Chennai resident, Chandrababu Sasiraj, who attempted to hijack a jetliner at knife-point to an East European country, is mentally ill and may be deported back to India once the probe is complete.

8216;8216;His act is not seen as pre-meditated or a conspiracy, but he obviously tried to do what he8217;s not supposed to. There is a question mark over his behaviour. If his mental illness is established, he will be sent back to India to a mental hospital,8217;8217; local officials said.

MALDIVES MUSINGS

Using the J-K polls as backdrop, Vajpayee took a dig at Musharraf and his appointment to Pakistan8217;s highest office. Asked to comment on the polls, he said Pakistan could never believe independent polls are being held as it had never conducted one in the past. 8216;8216;Nobody will digest Pakistani propaganda any more,8217;8217; he said.

Maldives really has faith in Indian police and MPs. Among others, the island nation has a joint exercise Dosti under which its personnel of National Security Service undergo training with coastal guards, defence and police. When Majlis speaker Abdulh Hameed met Vajpayee, he urged that Maldavian MPs be trained at India.

Vinod Khanna was mobbed by NRIs at a reception here. First, he resisted signing autographs, but later relented after the ladies crowded around him. He had to call Health Minister Raja to rescue him. Raja, pushed aside in the melee, perked up under the arclights. Amitav Ranjan

Sasiraj is currently lodged in the island jail of Himmafushi, 25 km from Male, where a joint probe is underway by the National Security Service of Male with assistance of two Indian and one Seychelles official of their respective investigative agencies.

Sasiraj, a software engineer, and nine more Indians 8212; all Seychelles-bound construction workers 8212; were detained in Maldives for trying to hijack an Air Seychelles flight from Mumbai on September 9 just before the jetliner was to land for a brief stopover at Male.

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Local officials said Maldivian authorities had established that barring 32-year old Sasiraj, the rest had nothing to do with the attempted hijacking. 8216;8216;One of them merely wanted to enter the cockpit to see what was going on,8217;8217; they said.

Except for Sasiraj and 41-year-old Premi Harjee Varsani, who was earlier suspected to be Sasiraj8217;s aide, the other eight were released on September 11. Local officials said that even Varsani has been released, but this could not be independently confirmed.Indian ambassador to the Maldives S.M. Gavai said that India had not yet sought extradition or deportation of Sasiraj as the probe was on.

8216;8216;Things will need to be worked out after inquiry,8217;8217; hesaid.Sasiraj was diagnosed as schizophrenic by Vellore8217;s Christian Medical College.