6 youths mistaken for saying ‘Bomb’ instead of ‘Bombay’ allowed to leave after ATS questioning

Six youths from Kerala landed in trouble on Monday after a passenger in the local train they were travelling in mistook their pronunciation of ‘Bombay’ as ‘bomb’ and notified the authorities.

All of them were allowed to leave on Tuesday after a thorough questioning by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

According to officials, one of the youths was on speaking on the phone during the train journey. While on call, he told the person on the other end that they were in ‘Bombay’, but a local mistook the word as ‘bomb’ and notified the PRF after reaching Kurla station.

“The men were travelling in a Panvel-CST (Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) local train. Some co-passengers heard them talking in a suspicious manner. One of the co-passengers got down at Kurla station and approached the RPF,” said Sachin Bhalode, senior divisional security commissioner, Central Railway.

“The men were detained after they alighted at CST. They were conversing in Malayalam and didn’t know Hindi or English,” Bhalode said.

The youths were handed over to the Vashi GRP for further interrogation. Later, Maharashtra ATS was also apprised of the situation.

However, officials did not find anything unusual about their visit and were able to successfully cross verify the details they furnished during questioning. Following which, they were allowed to leave.

All six, whose names were not disclosed by the authorities, had arrived in Mumbai from Kerala on Monday. They all attended the same madrasa in Kerala and were on their way to a madrasa in Ratnagiri to learn Urdu.

“They had taken the local train to go on a sightseeing in Mumbai, before heading to Ratnagiri,” he explained.