Mangaluru Airport bomb planter Aditya Rao had shopped on Amazon, assembled bomb at home

News Network
March 17, 2022

Mangaluru, Mar 17: The man, who was awarded 20 years of imprisonment for planting an improvised explosive bomb at the Mangaluru International Airport in January 2020, had managed to get raw materials to prepare the explosive from online service provider Amazon, as per the judgement.

Investigation agencies have submitted a report to the court about the accused Aditya Rao (37) procuring raw materials to make explosives online and in the 80-page judgement, the court mentions the same.

They found that the accused with an intention to explore the substance so as to cause terror and endanger human life, had pre-planned an outline and collected the information for preparing improvised explosive substances by calling up 'Just Dial' company, the investigation agencies have stated.

Rao had visited several cyber centres, browsing centres as well as internet centres and collected the information. Upon such collection of information, he had ordered the necessary raw materials for explosives from the Amazon website, the investigation report says.

After collecting the raw materials without any license, the accused had discreetly stored them in the staff quarters of a family restaurant in Mangaluru.

Without permission from any authority, he had mixed the raw materials and prepared improvised explosive substances. After this, he had kept that improvised explosive substance in a black bag and moved it to the sensitive and crowded area at the departure gate of Mangaluru International Airport, the report says.

He had left the black back containing improvised explosive substances at the airport and escaped from the place.

In 2018, the accused had applied for a security supervisor post at Bengaluru airport and had spent Rs 7,500 for securing the post. When his attempts failed and he could not get the security supervisor job, he had made a hoax call that there is a bomb in Bangalore Airport and railway station.

Later, he was arrested and sentenced to one-year imprisonment. After serving the sentence of one year he had developed hatred towards the government and with this hatred, he had committed the offence punishable under Section 4 of the Explosive Substances Act of 1908 and section 16 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967.

The facts which emerged from the prosecution papers are that the accused with an intention to threaten the unity integrated security and sovereignty of India had placed the improvised explosive substances, the judge observed.

The Fourth Additional District and Session's Court of Dakshina Kannada district Judge B.R. Pallavi convicted the accused 37-year-old Adithya Rao for 20 years of imprisonment on March 11.

The accused has been found guilty under Section 4 of the Explosive Substances Act 1908 and Section 16 of the Prevention of Unlawful Activities Act 1967. He has also been fined Rs 10,000.

Adithya Rao had planted the bomb in the Mangaluru International Airport on January 20, 2020. The authorities got the bomb detected and disposed it of the same day.

The police department had launched a hunt for the accused. The development had led to many speculations and created tension all over the state.

However, the convict Aditya Rao surrendered himself at the Director General and Inspector General office.

He has been in jail since then. Rao, a resident of Manipal in Udupi district, had pleaded guilty before the court.

Even though the accused pleaded guilty, the court by exercising discretion under section 229 of CrPC had invited the prosecution to prove charges levelled against the accused.

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News Network
December 4,2025

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Domestic carrier IndiGo has cancelled over 180 flights from three major airports — Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru — on Thursday, December 4, as the airline struggles to secure the required crew to operate its flights in the wake of new flight-duty and rest-period norms for pilots.

While the number of cancellations at Mumbai airport stands at 86 (41 arrivals and 45 departures) for the day, at Bengaluru, 73 flights have been cancelled, including 41 arrivals, according to a PTI report that quoted sources.

"IndiGo cancelled over 180 flights on Thursday at three airports-Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru," the source told the news agency.

Besides, it had cancelled as many as 33 flights at Delhi airport for Thursday, the source said, adding, "The number of cancellations is expected to be higher by the end of the day."

The Gurugram-based airline's On-Time Performance (OTP) nosedived to 19.7 per cent at six key airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad — on December 3, as it struggled to get the required crew to operate its services, down from almost half of December 2, when it was 35 per cent.

"IndiGo has been facing acute crew shortage since the implementation of the second phase of the FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations) norms, leading to cancellations and huge delays in its operations across the airports," a source had told PTI on Wednesday.

Chaos continued at several major airports for the third day on Thursday because of the cancellations.

A spokesperson for the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru said that 73 IndiGo flights had been cancelled on Thursday.

At least 150 flights were cancelled and dozens of others delayed on Wednesday, airport sources said, leaving thousands of travellers stranded, according to news agency Reuters.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has said it is investigating IndiGo flight disruptions and has asked the airline to submit the reasons for the current situation, as well as its plans to reduce flight cancellations and delays.

It may be mentioned here that the pilots' body, Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), has alleged that IndiGo, despite getting a two-year preparatory window before the full implementation of new flight duty and rest period norms for cockpit crew, "inexplicably" adopted a "hiring freeze".

The FIP said it has urged the safety regulator, the DGCA, not to approve airlines' seasonal flight schedules unless they have adequate staff to operate their services "safely and reliably" in accordance with the New Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms.

In a letter to the DGCA late on Wednesday, the FIP urged the DGCA to consider re-evaluating and reallocating slots to other airlines, which have the capacity to operate them without disruption during the peak holiday and fog season if IndiGo continues to "fail in delivering on its commitments to passengers due to its own avoidable staffing shortages."

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News Network
December 3,2025

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Mangaluru, Dec 3: A group of Congress workers gathered at the Mangaluru International Airport on Wednesday to welcome AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, but the reception quickly turned into a display of support for Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.

Venugopal arrived in the city to participate in the centenary commemoration of the historic dialogue between Mahatma Gandhi and Narayana Guru. The event, organised by the Sivagiri Mutt, Varkala, in association with the Mangalore University Sri Narayana Guru Study Chair, is being held on the university’s Konaje campus.

KPCC general secretary Mithun Rai and several party workers had assembled at the airport to receive Venugopal. However, the moment he stepped out, workers began raising slogans backing Shivakumar.

The university programme will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

This show of support comes just a day after Siddaramaiah remarked that Shivakumar would lead the government “when the high command decides.” The chief minister made the comment after a breakfast meeting at Shivakumar’s residence—another public display of camaraderie between the two leaders amid ongoing attempts by the party high command to downplay their leadership rivalry.

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News Network
November 26,2025

Mangaluru, Nov 26: Assembly Speaker and local MLA U.T. Khader has initiated a high-level push to resolve one of Mangaluru’s longest-standing traffic headaches: the narrow, high-density stretch of National Highway-66 between Nanthoor and Talapady.

He announced on Tuesday that a formal proposal has been submitted to the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) seeking approval to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the widening of this crucial corridor.

The plan specifically aims to expand the existing 45-meter road width to a full 60 meters, coupled with the construction of dedicated service roads. Khader highlighted that land for a 60-meter highway was originally acquired during the initial four-laning project, but only 45 meters were developed, leading to a perpetual bottleneck.

"With vehicle density rising sharply, the expansion has become unavoidable," Khader stated, stressing that the upgrade is essential for ensuring smoother traffic flow and improving safety at the city's main entry and exit points.

The stretch between Nanthoor and Talapady is a vital link on the busy Kochi-Panvel coastal highway and connects to major city junctions. The move to utilize the previously acquired land for the full 60-meter width is seen as a necessary measure to catch up with the region's rapid vehicular growth and prevent further traffic gridlocks.

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