A 17-year-old student from Haryana was arrested on Saturday by the Mumbai Police’s Cyber Crime Investigation Cell for allegedly sending a prank e-mail to Air India, warning it of a blast in an aircraft.

The e-mail was received by a security officer at Air India at 4.48 pm on October 23.

It stated that “there will be a bomb blast in an Air India plane on 1.11.09”. Subsequently, an alert was sounded at all airports across the country.

“We have tracked down the culprit — a 17-year-old boy of Narnaul, Haryana. He is the son of a doctor and is currently pursuing BCom first year. He had initially taken up BSc but had failed in his first year, forcing him to change his stream. He claims that owing to frustration over this change, he had decided to send the e-mail from his personal computer at home,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria.

The accused has been booked for criminal intimidation under Information Technology Act.