Mangaluru: The Fourth Additional District and Sessions Court yesterday sentenced a man, accused of placing explosives at Mangaluru International Airport, to 25 years imprisonment besides imposing a fine of Rs. 10,000. The man who was sentenced is Aditya Rao. He had placed the explosives at Mangaluru Airport on Jan. 20, 2020.

He was sentenced under sections of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and Explosives Act.  The Police had found a low-intensity Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in an unattended bag at the Mangaluru International Airport premises and the bomb detection and disposal squad had successfully defused the explosive in an exercise that lasted several hours. Mangaluru Police had released the CCTV footage of a man suspected to have planted the bomb.

Aditya had later surrendered at the DGP’s Office in Bengaluru and he was then brought to Mangaluru by Police for investigation. The Police had filed a 700-page chargesheet against Rao including the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report of the bag of explosives that was placed at the airport, confirming Rao’s involvement in the case.

Judge B.R. Pallavi, who heard the arguments yesterday, found accused Rao of guilty of the crime and sentenced Rao to 20 years rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs. 10,000 on him for an offence punishable under Section 16(b) of UAPA. He was also sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment and asked to pay a fine of Rs. 10,000 for an offence punishable under Section 4 of the Explosive Substances Act. Both sentences will run concurrently, the Judge said.