An unemployed 25-year-old resident of Uttam Nagar was arrested on Saturday for allegedly sending bomb threats to several airlines and alleged that bombs were planted on several flights on Friday night, police said. This marked the second arrest across the country – Mumbai police detained a 17-year-old youth on October 16 – in connection with the series of fake bomb threats made in the past two weeks.

Police identified the accused as Shubham Upadhyay, a Class 12 graduate. A senior police officer said Upadhyay had allegedly made two social media posts threatening to explode Delhi-destination flights, after watching television reports about the same.

“We believe he copied the schedule of a few flights and pasted them together with a threat that said there was a bomb on these planes,” said the officer, who did not want to be identified.

Read also | Eliminate fake bomb threats, report to authorities: Meity social media companies

The two posts were sent to the IGI Airport police on Saturday morning.

Police said they immediately registered a case under the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Civil Aviation Act (US-SCA) and criminal intimidation sections under the NBS.

Usha Rangnani, Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI Airport), said, “We have taken immediate action and standard security protocols have been followed for all flights. The threat was found to be a hoax. During the investigation, the origin of the messages was traced to an account registered in Upadhyay’s name. Based on additional information, a raid was conducted and he was caught.”

Police said Upadhyay admitted to posting the messages after watching news of similar incidents on television. “He wanted to draw attention to himself and sent the messages as a prank. The matter is currently under further investigation,” Rangnani said.

Read also | X emerges as a hoax center amid the chaos in the sky

Police said they had beefed up security in and around the airport and urged the public not to be “alarmed” by such threats.

Meanwhile, the aviation ministry has issued a warning to airlines about fake bomb threats and urged them to report fake calls, messages and posts at the earliest.

Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said the ministry plans to take strict action against the accused and the safety of passengers will not be compromised.