Two days after a hoax phone call delayed President A P J Abdul Kalam's departure to Delhi from Chennai by over three hours, a 21-year old salesman of a popular jewellery shop was arrested in Chennai on the the charge of making the call.

The youth, identified as Perinbarajan and hailing from Nilgiri district, was found to be the "prankster" who had made the hoax call on Monday, Tamil Nadu Director General of Police D Mukherjee told reporters in Chennai.

"It was purely an act of mischief and not done under the influence of alcohol," he said.

An employee of GRT Jewellery, Perinbarajan had called up the south control room of the Police Commissionerate claiming a bomb would go off in the governor's flight.

"The accused made the call from a one-rupee coin facility located in GRT Jewellery's premises, at 10.31 pm on Monday after the shop had downed its shutters," Mukherjee said.