Passenger kicked off Jet Airways flight after bizarre Snapchat terrorist joke
'Terrorist on flight, I destroy women's hearts,' says post accompanying image
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A passenger on an Indian airline was kicked off the flight after he was caught tying a handkerchief around his face to make a terrorist joke on Snapchat.
Yogvedant Poddar was detained by police after another passenger told the crew he had sent a message including the words "terrorist" and "destroy".
The caption of the image he sent via Snapchat said: “Terrorist on flight, I destroy women’s hearts”.
Mr Poddar’s prank backfired during the Jet Airways flight from Kolkata to Mumbai on Monday morning.
The plane was taxiing along the runway and ready to take off when passengers who had seen his Snapchat message informed air stewards.
One of the attendants then passed the warning along to the pilot, who contacted air traffic controllers.
Airport officials said he had been arrested and handed over to the police for questioning.
“Mr Yogvedant Poddar was disembarked and was taken in custody of security department of Jet Airways,” a statement from the airport said.
“The passenger was found chatting on the messaging app Snapchat and using language which was inferred as a security threat.”
Security forces across India are on high alert because Monday marks the tenth anniversary of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, which left 165 people dead.
One officer told the Indian website News18: “[Mr Poddar] was visibly traumatised and told the officers that he is not a terrorist. He pleaded innocence and told the officers that he was just playing a prank with his friends.”
As well as searching Mr Poddar’s baggage, the flight was delayed for more than an hour as security also checked out the whole plane before giving it clearance to take off.
Mr Poddar, who was reportedly heading to Mumbai for a job interview, was quickly released once police realised he had only been making a joke over Snapchat.
The mishap is not the first time an Indian airline passenger has sparked alarm by mistake.
In January, a 45-year-old man was accused of making a bomb threat because he had become angered by delays.
But Vinod Moorjani insisted that rather than telling authorities there was a “bomb” while calling Mumbai International Airport, he actually said “Bombay”, the old colonial name for Mumbai.
Police in India rejected this and said Mr Moorjani intended to disrupt outgoing flights to ensure he would not miss his connection in Rome. He has since been charged him with criminal intimidation.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments