‘Bomber’ text delays Mangaluru-Mumbai flight

A Mangaluru-Mumbai flight was delayed by over six hours after a woman raised an alarm about a suspicious text message received on the mobile phone of a fellow passenger. The incident occurred on August 14, a day prior to Independence Day, when airport security is on highest alert.

The suspicious text, according to airport sources, “U r da bomber”, was received on the phone of a Vadodara-based engineer, Dipayan Maji, who was travelling on the Indigo flight. The message was sent by his friend Simran Tom, who had boarded a Mangaluru-Bengaluru flight.

Maji was detained for questioning and not allowed to take the flight. “Nothing suspicious was found. It was just banter between him and his friend, but we could not take chances after a complaint,” said the official. Tom is a student in a Chennai college. Airport sources said that both are good friends and they spoke about the security just for fun.

However, the woman sitting next to Maji saw the word ‘bomber’ and alerted the cabin crew, who in turn notified the Air Traffic Control (ATC). Over 180 passengers had already boarded the aircraft when this message was relayed to the ATC and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

“We are on a state of high alert and we had to ensure that the screening of passengers was undertaken again,” said an airport security official. Accordingly, all the passengers were deboarded and their luggage was screened again. The flight was allowed to leave only a good six hours after the original scheduled time of 11am.

A case has been lodged at Bajpe police station under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code after a complaint from IndiGo airline officials. However, the airline did not offer any formal statement.