Bengaluru: Couple held for hoax bomb call that delayed Air Asia flight

February 10, 2017

Bengaluru, Feb 10: A couple were arrested by the Bengaluru International Airport police in the early hours of Thursday in connection with a hoax call made to the Kempegowda International Airport to delay the take off of a Cochin-bound AirAsia flight. The flight was delayed by over six hours. Police said that they have detained Neha Gopinathan and Arjun, natives of Kerala who resided at the BTM Layout in South-East Bengaluru.

The duo were detained after investigations showed that all the other 180 passengers had boarded the flight on time and the couple had enquired several times over phone about the flight, stating that they were running late to reach the airport due to a problem with their taxi.

N Shivakumara, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) said that the police was informed about the threat call. “It was later confirmed that it was hoax and we have detained Neha and Arjun,” he said. The couple said they needed to be in their village near Cochin on Thursday morning since their engagement was scheduled in the morning.

Police said that one of their relatives called the airport from a public telephone booth in Cochin around 8.31 pm on Wednesday and claimed that there were explosives in the AirAsia flight to Cochin. The flight was scheduled to take-off by 8.45 pm but the operation was suspended on account of the hoax call. The explosive detection and disposal squad rushed to the scene and checked the flight and baggage of all the passengers till 1.30 am before the call was deemed a hoax. The flight finally took off from the Bengaluru airport around 3.30 am on Thursday.

Police said the couple are working as instructors at a private teaching academy and their engagement was scheduled for Thursday. They came to know that they can't reach their destination in time for their engagement, they informed the same to their relatives, who planned the hoax call to ensure delay of the flight. A police team may be dispatched to Kerala if the couple fail to reveal who exactly made the hoax call. A case has been registered and further probe is underway.

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Before booking IPC on accused give a tight slap....

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Elusive bamboo shrimp resurfaces in Mangaluru estuary after 70 years

News Network

December 7,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A rare bamboo shrimp has been rediscovered on mainland India more than 70 years after it was last reported, confirming for the first time the presence of Atyopsis spinipes in the country. The find was made by researchers from the Centre for Climate Change Studies at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, during surveys in Karnataka and Odisha.

The team — shrimp expert Dr S Prakash, PhD scholar K Kunjulakshmi, and Mangaluru-based researcher Maclean Antony Santos — combined field surveys, ecological assessments and DNA analysis to identify the elusive species. Their findings, published in Zootaxa, resolve decades of taxonomic confusion stemming from a 1951 report that misidentified the species as Atyopsis moluccensis without strong evidence.

The shrimp has now been confirmed at two locations: the Mulki–Pavanje estuary near Mangaluru and the Kuakhai River in Bhubaneswar. Historical specimens from the Andaman Islands, previously labelled as A. moluccensis, were also found to be misidentified and actually belong to A. spinipes.

The rediscovery began after an aquarium hobbyist in Odisha spotted a shrimp in 2022, prompting systematic surveys across Udupi, Karwar and Mangaluru. Four female specimens were collected in Mulki and one in Odisha, all genetically matching.

Researchers warn the species may exist in very small, vulnerable populations as freshwater habitats face increasing pressure from pollution, sand mining and infrastructure development. All verified specimens have been deposited with the Zoological Survey of India for future reference.

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