‘Bomb’-ay lands youths from Kerala in a soup

A train journey landed these six youngsters from Kerala in the Anti-Terrorist Squad cell. These youths who arrived in the city on Monday got into serious trouble due to their profile, mainly as Malayali-speaking Muslims. This aroused the suspicions of their copassengers. They six were discussing ‘Bombay’ city, the co-passengers thought they were discussing a bomb.

These six youths, aged between 16 and 22 years, were travelling on the Netravati Express and got down at Panvel station on Monday. In a country of many languages and accents, this must be one of the rare cases of a language getting the youths into serious trouble.

These youths boarded the train at Panvel station and were headed to Chhtrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) to meet their friend who teaches Urdu at a mosque near JJ Hospital. They were to go along with their friend to Rajapur in Ratnagiri and learn Urdu from him. After boarding the train, one of the boys in the group began conversing with a friend in Malayalam on Whatsapp.

“The boy used the word ‘bomb’ for Bombay while communicating with his other friend. A co-passenger peeped into his cell and mistook them for discussing a real ‘bomb.’ He was confused as he did not understand the language,” said a Government Railway Police official.

The co-passenger informed railway police officials after reaching Kurla station. The officials at Kurla station informed officials at CST who took them into custody.

The six youth were handed over to the Railway Protection Force (RPF) as they boarded the train from Panvel station which falls under their jurisdiction.

The incident turned serious as the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) also interrogated the youths. The ATS gave them a clean chit after interrogation since they found the boys to be innocent. Officials have refused to reveal their names.

During interrogation, it was known that they were on their way to Rajapur in Ratnagiri district to learn the Urdu language. “These youngsters were supposed to meet their friend at CST and were planning to head to Rajapur for pursuing the language course. They were to stay at Rajapur for at least a month,” Suresh Patil, senior police inspector of Vashi GRP.

After almost eight hours’ interrogation, the six youngsters were allowed to leave by Tuesday afternoon after nothing damaging was found about them.