Mumbai: A woman at Mumbai airport asked to pay extra for excess baggage, and then suddenly she opened the bag and announced that it contained a bomb. She was handed over to the Sahar Police by the CISF. After checking her bags, she revealed nothing, and the court released her on bail.
She lives in south Mumbai with her husband and two children. Her husband is an entrepreneur. She was supposed to fly to Kolkata to see her mother on May 29.
She arrived at the SpiceJet baggage claim area at about 5.30 p.m. and requested a boarding pass. She gave me two suitcases to check-in. The airline’s policies allow for a single bag for domestic travel, with a maximum weight of 15kg. However, the woman was carrying two bags totalling 22.05kg. She would have to pay charges, but the woman refused and claimed that her luggage contained a bomb. She was charged and sent to a local court, which granted her bail the following morning.
Another airline executive in her statement to Sahar Police said, “She started to yell and picked up a fight with the executive at the check-in counter. I asked her to calm down and tried to explain airline rules to her. But she was in no mood to listen and started to argue with me as well.”
The two executives began speaking in Marathi to each other, which enraged the woman even more. She accused them of harassing people who did not speak Marathi. Muthu Kumar, a CISF inspector, had arrived at the check-in counter by this time. The executives explained what had transpired and called their boss to inform him. Kumar had just introduced himself to the woman when she abruptly exclaimed, “I have a bomb.”
Without wasting time the CISF inspector summoned the dog squad. However, the sniffer dogs found nothing unusual in her bag. SpiceJet security agents and supervisors had arrived by this time. One of them dialled the police emergency hotline 100 and communicated the information.
The woman was charged with ‘endangering the life and safety of others’ by Sahar police. She was not brought into prison as per procedure because it was after sunset. The next morning, she appeared in a local court and was given bail. Sahar police stated they had submitted a chargesheet in the case after the investigation was completed. The woman’s identity was not revealed by police.
