An Air India flight to Delhi from the Jodhpur Civil Airport was delayed by over three hours on Sunday following a bomb threat which turned out to be a hoax, officials said.

The flight was scheduled to take off from here at 2.55 pm but there was a mention of the bomb by a passenger in an argument with the flight staff which triggered the panic, airport officials said. 

Security officials and Air India staff immediately evacuated the passengers from the flight and checked the plane.

After a green signal by the officials, the flight finally took off at 6.30 pm, said G K Khare, the director of the airport.

The ground staff has given a complaint against the passengers to the police, who have initiated investigation, Khare said.

Deputy commissioner of police (East) Amandeep said the passenger had an altercation with the ground staff of the Air India which led to the bomb threat.

"The passenger had to de-board at Jaipur but he wanted to de-board the flight at Jodhpur itself, which was not allowed by the flight staff," said the DCP.

The threat led the police, the Central Industry Security Force (CISF) and other security agencies to swing into action swiftly and a bomb disposal squad was called in to deal with any exigency.

"After an intensive search of the entire plane, we did not find anything suspicious and the threat turned out to be a mere hoax," said the officer.

All passengers of the flight, in the meantime, were accommodated at the airport lounge and attended by the staff, officials said.

Khare said the usual route of this flight is Delhi to Jodhpur and back to Delhi. But, in a new arrangement for Sundays only, the flight on return goes to Delhi via Jaipur.

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