It may be recalled that Aditya Rao had kept a bag containing a bomb near the ticket counter of Mangalore airport terminal building on January 20, 2020, and fled in an auto-rickshaw. After the airport control room received a message, Inspector of the Central Industrial Security Force Manas Nayak went to the spot along with a quick response team. Upon finding it to be an explosive substance, the Bajpe Police was informed. Bajpe Police registered a case and then arrangements were made to safely remove it to an open place, a kilometre away from the airport, where it was defused.

Fourth Additional District and Sessions Judge B.R. Pallavi sentenced 37-year old Aditya Rao to 20 years in jail on finding him guilty of placing an explosive substance at the Mangalore international airport here about two years ago. The judge sentenced Rao to 20 years rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹10,000 on him for an offence punishable under Section 16 (b) of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. He was also sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment and asked to pay a fine of ₹10,000 for an offence punishable under Section 4 of the Explosive Substances Act. Both sentences will run concurrently, the judge said.

A team of officers analysed CCTV footage and other available evidence were gathered to find that Rao, a former staffer of a popular restaurant near Ambedkar Circle here, had placed the substance in the airport. He was arrested after he surrendered at the office of the Director-General and Inspector-General of Police, Bengaluru, on January 22, 2020. Rao had undergone one year imprisonment in Chikkaballapur Jail for making a hoax call about a bomb in the Bengaluru airport soon after he failed to get selected for the post of security officer at the airport in 2018. In anger, Rao had searched the internet to find a way to make explosives. He ordered Potassium Nitrate and Sodium online. The material were assembled and kept in a black bag. Rao boarded a private bus and got of at Kenjar and then proceeded towards the airport to place the bag near the departure gate on January 20, 2020. He left the airport in an autorickshaw and then at around 2 p.m. called the Mangalore Airport Terminal Manager from Malpe to inform him about the explosive in an aircraft, Investigation Officer K.U. Belliyappa said in the charge-sheet. After finding Rao to be normal and not having any mental impairment, the judge in her 58-page judgment said, “The act of the accused clearly reflects his intention to cause an explosion and thereby endanger life and cause serious damage to property. The act of the accused is nothing but an act with intention to threaten the unity, integrity and security of India besides striking terror in the hearts of people.”