You’d nearly applaud him for the effort he put into this until you learn of the rather terrifying story he concocted.
An Indian man is facing five years in prison after sending a hoax email to police in which he claimed he overheard six men plotting to hijack planes in three Indian cities earlier this month.
And it was all so the man, married with a child, could avoid going on holiday with an online girlfriend.
A statement released by Hyderabad City Police revealed that they received an email claiming to be from a woman on April 15, claiming that she overheard six men chatting in a hotel about a plot to hijack planes in Hyderabad, Chennai and Mumbai on the following day.
Extra security measures were put in place in those airports in those cities as a result of the email.
During a subsequent investigation into the email, police were able to track down 32-year-old Motaparthi Vamshi Krishna using CCTV footage and the IP address from an internet café in Hyderabad.
While police were interrogating Krishna, he admitted that he sent the email as an elaborate hoax to avoid going on holiday with a girl who he had recently met online and who had suggested that they go on holiday to Mumbai and Goa.
Krishna protested that he wasn’t able to afford it, but on discovering just how much his companion wanted to go on holiday, he decided to create a fake ticket from Chennai to Mumbai, which he sent to his girlfriend, and subsequently sent the email to police.
According to CNN, at a press conference relaying the details of a remarkable story, the leader of the investigation, B. Limba Reddy, Deputy Commissioner of Police at the Commissioner's Task Force in Hyderabad, said: "He didn't have the money, but if he cancelled because of that, it would have hurt his pride, and his friendship with the girl would've come to an end."
“So, his thinking was that if the flight was to be cancelled and it was because of the airport, he wouldn't be at fault,” Limba Reddy added.
Krishna has been arrested on four charges, including impersonation and providing false information and could be facing five years in prison and a fine as a result.
It would all have been so much easier if he just said ‘no’.
