Patna: A man claiming to be a relative of former Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president Jagdambika Pal allegedly made a call saying there was a bomb on board IC 810 Patna-Ranchi-Delhi flight grounding it for several hours at the Patna airport to help him catch the flight but Pal denied the charge.

On receiving the call, the security personnel scanned the aircraft and no bomb or explosive was found, airport director A K Lakhaiyar told sources in Patna.

A complaint has been lodged with the police on the incident, he added.

He said traffic superintendent Abdullah Khan received a call on phone no 2231453 from Idea mobile phone no 981214279 and the caller, who identified himself as Krishnadev Prasad, a relative of Pal asked the airport official to delay the IC 810 flight as Pal was to board it for Ranchi.

The caller said Pal, who arrived in Patna by a Sahara flight from Lucknow and was scheduled to go to Ranchi by road, had changed his programme and intended to catch the Indian Airlines flight bound for the Jharkhand capital.

Lakhaiyar said when Khan expressed his inability to entertain the caller's request, the man made another call from the same mobile number which was registered by the caller identification device, this time saying that RDX was planted in the aircraft.