A post accompanying a graphic is going viral on social media platforms (here, here, and here). The graphic features a person and claims that a Mumbai businessman has been sentenced to life imprisonment and fined Rs. 5 crore by a special NIA court for threatening to hijack a Jet Airways plane. In this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: A Mumbai businessman has been sentenced to life imprisonment and fined Rs. 5 crore by a special NIA court for threatening to hijack a Jet Airways plane.
Fact: According to reports, on 30 October 2017, Mumbai-based businessman Birju Kishor Salla was arrested for allegedly placing a threat note inside the lavatory of a Mumbai-Delhi Jet Airways plane. In June 2019, the Special NIA Court convicted Salla under the amended Anti-Hijacking Act of 2016, sentencing him to life imprisonment and a fine of ₹5 crore. However, on 08 August 2023, the Gujarat High Court set aside Salla’s conviction in the 2017 Jet Airways plane hijacking case. Hence, the claim made in the post is Misleading.
To verify the authenticity of the viral claim, we conducted a relevant keyword search on Google. This search led us to a news report published by ‘Times of India’ on 09 August 2023, featuring a picture of the man in the viral post. According to the report, the Gujarat High Court on 08 August 2023, acquitted Mumbai-based businessman Birju Kishor Salla, who was convicted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Court in 2019 under the amended Anti-Hijacking Act of 2016 and sentenced to life imprisonment. The report further stated that the Gujarat High Court bench, comprising Justice A.S. Supehia and Justice M.R. Mengdey, acquitted Salla due to a lack of evidence linking him to the note found in the flight’s lavatory. The NIA court had sentenced Salla to life imprisonment for planting a threat note on a Mumbai-Delhi Jet Airways flight on 30 October 2017, which led to its emergency landing at Ahmedabad airport. The Gujarat High Court’s verdict in this case can be viewed here. Additional reports about the Gujarat High Court acquittal in the 2017 Jet Airways plane hijacking case can be found here, here, and here.
According to reports, on 30 October 2017, Mumbai-based businessman Birju Kishor Salla was arrested for allegedly placing a threat note inside the lavatory of a Mumbai-Delhi Jet Airways plane. The case was subsequently handed over to the NIA. In June 2019, the NIA Court convicted Salla under Sections 3(1), 3(2)(a), and 4(b) of the Anti-Hijacking Act of 2016, sentencing him to life imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 5 crore. The compensation was set at Rs. 1 lakh for each pilot, Rs. 50,000 for each air hostess, and Rs. 25,000 for each passenger for the distress caused. The NIA Court’s 2019 verdict can be viewed here.
In July 2019, Salla challenged the special NIA Court’s verdict in the Gujarat High Court. In August 2023, the Gujarat High Court acquitted Birju Kishor Salla quashing the NIA special court order that had sentenced him to life and fined Rs. 5 crore.
To sum up, Mumbai businessman Birju Kishor Salla’s conviction by the NIA Court in the 2017 Jet Airways plane hijacking case was set aside by the Gujarat High Court on 08 August 2023.
