Birju Salla, who wanted to have more time with flight attendant girlfriend, falls foul of strict law

A Mumbai businessman has been sentenced to life in jail after making a hoax threat to hijack an airline in a ill-fated attempt to persuade his lover to quit her career as a flight attendant and spend more time with him.

Birju Salla, 38, who is married with two children, planted a letter in the toilet of a Jet Airways plane claiming there were 12 hijackers onboard the Mumbai-Delhi flight, prompting an emergency landing in Ahmedabad.

The court heard that Salla hoped the airline would close as a result of the hoax in October 2017, leaving his girlfriend jobless and free to enjoy his company more often.

The court of the National Investigation Agency in Ahmedabad fined Salla 50m rupees (£565,000), in addition to the jail sentence. He is the first person to be convicted under stringent anti-hijacking laws introduced in 2016, which allow for only two punishments for hijacking or threats to hijack: life or a death sentence.

The court was told that Salla lived with with his wife, sons and his elderly parents in a flat in Mumbai. His diamond trading business allowed him a life of luxury including business-class travel, and some in the industry who knew him said he had a penchant for meeting celebrities

During his frequent flights from Mumbai to Delhi he fell for a flight attendant and they began an affair in 2017.

He became frustrated that her job meant he could not spend as much time with her as he wanted. In July 2017 he married her secretly and asked her to leave her job, but she refused to so.

Prosecutors told the court that Salla then hatched in his plan, writing a note in English on his office computer and using Google Translate to turn it into Urdu, presumably to make it appear as though it was written by a Muslim.

The note read: “Flight No 9W339 is covered by hijackers and aircraft should not be land and flown straight to POK [Muzaffarabad airport in Pakistan], 12 people onboard. If you put landing gear, you will hear the noise of people dying. Don’t take it as a joke. Cargo area contains explosives land Delhi. Allah is great.”

He printed it out, taking care to use plastic gloves – captured on his office CCTV – so as not to leave fingerprints.

After boarding the flight on 30 October 2017, Salla went to the toilet and left the note easily visible in a tissue box. A member of the cabin crew saw it and alerted the pilot, who made an emergency landing.

The National Investigation Agency traced the hoax threat to Salla and arrested him last year for posing a threat to the safety of passengers and crew.

According to Indian media reports, Salla remains in touch with his girlfriend, who is said to be “shattered and heartbroken” at what she feels is a disproportionate punishment for a “prank”.

The Mumbai Mirror quoted the woman’s sister as saying she considered herself to be Salla’s wife as the marriage was registered in court. “Rapists go scot-free in this country, terrorism is on the rise and here an innocent man has been convicted of an alleged hoax,” the sister said. “An injustice has been done. He didn’t put a gun to someone’s head.”

Salla’s lawyer, Rohit Verma, said the relationship with his wife and parents, who all attended court only once, was now strained. “He has been in jail since October 2017 so I suppose he is getting used to it by now,” Verma said.

He said the provisions of the law were so harsh that he planned to challenge its constitutionality in court. Salla’s reaction was calm, he said, because he had understood there were only two sentencing options under the legislation.

“He knew it was going to happen,” Verma said. “If only he hadn’t done something so stupid.”