Flier talks about 'bombs' on social media, arrested

Soumya Das, DHNS, Kolkata,

Nov 26 2018, 13:18 ist
updated: Nov 26 2018, 20:12 ist

Yogvedanta Poddar, in his 20s, was forced to get off the plane, which was preparing for take-off. (Reuters File Photo)

A passenger was arrested at the Kolkata Airport from a Mumbai-bound flight on Monday morning when he allegedly made a social media post from inside the aircraft and threatened to hijack and blow up the plane.

"During a chat on an instant messaging platform the accused identified as Yogvedant Poddar was overheard by another passenger saying that he will hijack and blow up the plane with a bomb," police sources said.

They also said that after another passenger overheard the social media chat of Poddar he was deboarded and taken into custody. Poddar was arrested late on Monday evening.

“On 26/11/2018 around 8.30 am Mr Yogvedant Poddar...was disembarked and was taken in custody of security department of Jet Airways... the passenger was found chatting on the messaging app Snapchat and using a language which was inferred as a security threat,” said a statement issued by the Kolkata Airport authorities.

It further stated that a co-passenger of the accused alerted the crew members who then informed CISF.

“The incident was reported to the crew member by a co-passenger and CISF was alerted. The passenger was detained and handed over to local police for further investigation,” said the statement.

However Poddar's family members claimed that he made the comments jokingly to his friends.