BOM for… BOMB? Indian man assaulted by passengers on train after they misinterpreted his luggage tag

An ordinary airport luggage tag got an Indian man beaten up on a train and briefly detained after frightened fellow passengers suspected he was a terrorist carrying an explosive device.

Ganesh Shinde was taking an express train to Mumbai on the way back from a friend’s wedding in another city. At some point, the 32-year-old man asked a fellow passenger for a charger.

Citing the Railway Protection Police (RPF), the Indian Express reported that the two started chatting, and soon Shinde told his new acquaintance that he wanted to show him something about the “recipe to make a bomb.” It is unclear what Shinde meant by that, but the passenger he was talking to quickly alerted the conductor and other travelers.

They went through Shinde’s luggage and discovered a tag with ‘BOM’ written on it. He also had a map scribbled on his bag.

Thinking that ‘BOM’ meant ‘bomb’, the passengers beat Shinde up and, at the nearest stop, handed him over to police. The train was then checked for explosives and none were found.

While in custody, the man explained that ‘BOM’ is actually the code for Mumbai International Airport, which is a reference to the city’s colonial-era name, Bombay. Incidentally, Shinde – who was released after questioning – worked there as a van driver.

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