Love-struck Indian jailed for life over mock hijack

A businessman who mockingly threatened to hijack a plane to persuade his lover to quit her airline job and settle with him has been sentenced to life by an Indian anti-terrorism court.

The court in Ahmedabad found Birju Salla guilty Tuesday of planting a threat letter in the toilet of a Jet Airways flight between Mumbai and Delhi in October 2017.

The note claimed hijackers and bombs were on board and demanded that the plane be diverted to Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Pilots landed the plane in Ahmedabad in western India where the 38-year-old, a regular business class customer with the now-defunct Jet Airlines, was detained.

He was the first person to be convicted under new stringent anti-hijacking laws that carries a minimum of life in prison and a maximum penalty of death.

Special judge M.K. Dave said the actions caused mental stress and unimaginable trauma to passengers and crew and fined Salla 50 million rupees (US$178,000).

This will be distributed among those on board, with the 116 passengers receiving 25,000 rupees, the pilots 100,000 rupees and cabin crew 50,000 rupees.

Salla, who was already married at the time, secretly wedded the airline stewardess from Delhi and wanted her to shift to Mumbai but she had refused.