Initial investigations into the Indigo flight scare suggests accused Jitendra Kumar Molla may just have been shooting off his mouth. MiD DAY recreates the mid-air drama
Initial investigations into the Indigo flight scare suggestsu00a0 accused Jitendra Kumar Molla may just have been shooting off his mouth. MiD DAY recreates the mid-air drama 
A day after the hijack drama of an Indigo aircraft from Goa paralysed the Delhi airport it seems the arrested 'hijacker" was just a harmless bragger, who was enjoying his moment in the spotlight.
In a perfect NatGeo moment, accused Jitendra Kumar Molla threatened to hijack the flight somewhere between Goa and Delhi. His fellow passengers and airhostesses Neha Chikara, Anchal Mehta, Neha Gogia and Jyoti believed his bizarre claims, reporting the incident to security officials.
While initial reports claimed Molla was intoxicated, no trace of alcohol was found on him. Though the police say that it may have been lost over time.
The 42-year-old accused, a resident of Dwarka in west Delhi, who got married in 2008, has apparently been suffering from depression.
MiD DAY recreates the on-board drama with a little help from police sources.
3 pm The Indigo flight number 6E 334 takes off with 163 passengers and six crew members from the Goa airport.
3.05 pm An airhostess notices two youngsters seating along the emergency window creating nuisance. They had not buckled their seat belts properly. She asks them to behave. They turn around and pass rude comments.
At this, another passenger Jitendera Kumar Molla (the accused hijacker) reacts sharply, asking them to sit properly. He rebukes them about misbehaving with a woman. He claims he is an official from the Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA) and will set them right. The youth are scared and settle down.
3.30 pm Molla starts fidgeting, gets up and walks down the aisle. Sits down at another seat. But a few passengers complain about his abrupt behaviour. An airhostess intervenes. Molla gets angry and threatens her that he is a DGCA official and can make the airline sack her.
4 pm Another airhostess intervenes. But he threatens her too. He says he is carrying a gun and will blow up the aircraft, if he is angered. Boasts he was a part of the terror team that had hijacked the Air India aircraft to Kandahar (the former Indian Airlines' IC 814 flight was hijacked to Kandahar in Afghanistan in December, 1999).
4.30 Attracted by the commotion, a third airhostess intervenes. Molla threatens her too, this time saying he has a virus-infected medical syringe. He approaches her, seemingly trying to pull out the syringe. Tells her that he would like to demonstrate how the syringe is used. Molla points out to a passenger who seems to be sleeping and says that he has injected him and has put "him to sleep permanently". The airhostess tries to wake the sleeping passenger. When he fails to respond to her, she gets scared and runs away to complain to the flight's head attendant, Jyoti.
5 pm Jyoti steps in but is scared off by Molla's threatening gestures. She runs to the cockpit and informs the pilot.
5.15 pm The pilot informs the air traffic control (ATC) in Delhi.
5.29 pm The flight makes an emergency landing at Delhi airport. The pilot uses a different frequency to inform the ATC that the hijacker could be armed and there could be more than one of them. The security operation starts as NSG commandoes and CISF personnel surround the aircraft.
9 pm The operation is completed, passengers starts de-boarding and Molla along with two other passengers, Samir Uppal and Harpreet, who were chatting with him, is detained.
Here's the latest
Molla being produced in a court which sent him to 14 days judicial custody. He has been booked under Sections 336 (Act Endangering Life and Personal Safety of Others) and Section 506 (Punishment for Criminal Intimidation) of Indian Penal Code and Suppression of Unlawful Act Against Safety Of Civil Aviation Act, 1982. The police freed Samir Uppal and Harpreet on Monday morning after questioning them.
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