A 32-year-old man was beaten up in Mumbai as the luggage he was carrying had an airline tag that read ‘BOM’ for Bombay.
The passengers onboard the Kandesh Express believed him to be a terrorist and assaulted him. According to the Indian Express, the victim was identified as Ganesh Shinde and had a map scribbled on his luggage.
Reports state that the said incident occurred around 11:35 PM when Shinde was travelling in a general compartment of the Kandesh Express after attending a friend’s wedding in Jalgaon.
The RPF told reporters that Shinde had asked a fellow passenger Ganesh Shankar for a charger and they had started talking. Following which Shinde asked Shankar to come with him to the passage in front of the gates, as he wanted to show the latter something interesting on the ‘recipe to make a bomb’.
Shankar grew skeptical but laughed it off. But when Shinde handed over his cellphone to Shankar and asked him to type out his mobile number… Shankar raised an alarm and called the ticket examiner and other passengers.
-RPF officer
Following this, several passengers gathered around to check his luggage and found the airline tag ‘BOM’, which as mentioned earlier, they mistook for ‘bomb’. Then they proceeded to beat him while the train pulled in at Bardoli station.
When inquired about the map scribbled on his luggage, Shinde said that he had drawn it to explain the route of char dhaam yatra to a friend
-Ganesh Shinde
Shinde was then reportedly handed over to the Surat Government Railway Police and the train was checked for the said bomb.
Shinde had to then explain to the cops that the tag on his luggage was from the airport where he worked as a utility driver. The GRP then verified his claims from his family and let him off the next day.
