Bangalore, Sept. 7: A Bangalore techie conjured up bomb hoaxes and skewered international flight schedules to frame his college sweetheart's husband as a terrorist and try to win her back, city police claimed today.

All this after murdering his wife six weeks ago over her alleged extramarital affair but getting away with it, Bangalore police commissioner N.S. Megharikh told reporters.

Gokul Machery, 37, arrested on Saturday evening hours after unleashing mayhem at Bangalore and Delhi airports, has apparently told his interrogators a dizzying tale of duplicity, intrigue, murder, and extramarital love involving four techies.

Gokul had originally been arrested for the WhatsApp messages sent in the name of the Islamic State to the two airport managers at 1.30am on Saturday, which led to three international flights being recalled midway and scores being delayed.

During questioning, Megharikh said, Gokul confessed to having killed wife Anuradha, an engineering teacher, on July 28 during a quarrel over a four-year-old affair she had allegedly been having.

According to Megharikh, the Thrissur native had carefully plotted his latest crime to frame Saju Jose, a fellow Keralite techie and neighbour at Fernhill Gardens Apartments in the HSR Layout.

He allegedly secured photocopies of Jose's passport and school-leaving certificate to obtain a SIM card in his name and sent the bomb hoaxes using them.

Earlier, he had started a Facebook page that spewed Islamic State propaganda, using an email account in Jose's name.

When that went unnoticed, the commissioner said, Gokul called a city industrialist using the SIM and demanded Rs 10 crore on behalf of the Islamic State. But the man dismissed it as a prank. So, the airport plot was hatched.

On Saturday, the Bangalore police traced the Airtel number to Jose, who convinced them it wasn't his handiwork. Since the mobile tower locations indicated the area, the police asked Jose about the neighbours.

That led them to Gokul, whom Jose knew well. It was Jose's wife who had helped Gokul find an apartment in the same building, the police said. "The moment he saw us at his door, he knew the game was up," an officer said.

According to the police version of Gokul's purported confession, he and Jose's wife had been in a relationship from Class XII till they graduated from an engineering college in Thrissur. Then Gokul moved to Delhi and the girl to Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, for higher studies.

While working in Delhi in 2009, Gokul met Anuradha, a Ranchi native and a fellow techie, and began a relationship that ended in marriage. The same year, his ex got into an arranged marriage with Jose and shifted to his workplace, Bangalore.

"But Gokul's marriage came under strain because he worked late hours. One day, he searched his wife's mobile and claims to have found intimate messages from a man. We may question him too," the officer said.

What followed was a meticulous plan to trap his wife. Gokul opened a fake email address in 2011 under the name "Baba" - and later another under the name "Asha", acronym for astrology, spirituality, humility, attention - and got the devout Anuradha to bite the bait. She allegedly confessed the affair.

Officers said Gokul began writing to Anuradha from these addresses, suggesting tantric rituals that would help her continue the affair without divorcing her husband. He then asked for and received a picture of Anuradha with her alleged lover.

The police didn't explain why Gokul would play the game for four years, allowing the alleged affair to continue, before confronting Anuradha.

Gokul apparently claimed he had got back in touch with Jose's wife through Facebook in 2011 and revived the relationship after shifting to Bangalore in March this year.

Anuradha had followed him to Bangalore, where he joined Indus Networks, an IT services company, and she taught at a private engineering college.

"On July 28, Gokul got Anuradha to drink and confronted her with proof of her affair. A quarrel broke out when she threatened to go back to Delhi, and he whacked her with a Ganesh idol. She bled to death," the officer said.

Gokul called his father-in-law, a former police officer, in Ranchi and convinced him that Anuradha had, in a drunken state, hit her head against the TV stand and died. The Bangalore police questioned Gokul for two days before accepting his explanation.

The police have booked Gokul for murder and plan to reopen the case.

On Saturday morning, the bomb threats had named an Air France, a Lufthansa and a Saudi Airlines flight in Bangalore and a Jet Airways, a Cathay Pacific and a Swissair flight in Delhi.

The messages read "Islamic State Wins" and "Get ready to see the fireworks above the sea today".

Three of the flights - the Air France, Jet (Hong Kong-bound) and Cathay - were already in the air and had to be recalled and evacuated for a search. The other three flights were scanned too.

Both airports followed the full emergency protocol, complete with additional security, fire engines, bomb squads and sniffer dogs. Megharikh pegged the expenses in Bangalore alone at Rs 6.7 crore.

All take-offs were cancelled till 6.30am during what was the peak time for international arrivals and departures. The planes that landed were parked at a safe distance from the terminal, and their passengers weren't allowed to get off.

Five hours of search revealed nothing. During this, Bangalore's schedule included 20 landings and 38 departures. Many more flights were delayed as the tailback extended till late morning.