Six youths, including a minor, were detained at CST after a Vashi resident claimed to have spotted them typing 'bomb' in their WhatsApp chats. They claim that 'bomb' meant 'Bombay'
Of the six suspects, five hail from Kerala and one from Lakshadweep
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The word 'BOMB', mentioned four times in WhatsApp chats exchanged on a Harbour line train last evening, sent the Mumbai Police into a tizzy. Six youths, including a minor, were detained at CST after a Vashi resident claimed to have spotted them typing out the word.
They, however, claimed that they were referring to Bombay as BOMB. Nine mobile phones, two of which reportedly contained provocative literature, have been seized from them.
The alert Vashi resident said soon after boarding the Panvel-CST train, he noticed the six communicating in a language he didn't understand (Malayalam), and that piqued his interest. He then found them exchanging WhatsApp chats with a number starting with country code +97. He grew alarmed on seeing the word 'BOMB' typed four times and informed the Kurla police station (beat 3) as well as Kurla Railway Protection Force (RPF) after deboarding.
Since the train was already on its way to CST, the Kurla RPF relayed the message to the CST RPF. The six passengers were detained around 4 pm by the CST RPF and the Government Railway Police (GRP), taken to Kurla first and then handed over to the Vashi GRP.
Saudi ties
Sources said five of the youths have been identified as Abdul Rahoot KP (22), a resident of Malappuram, Kerala; Mohammad Adil AM (20) of Lakshadweep; Younus Usman (21), who hails from Mannarkkad, Kerala; Mohammad Aslam Siddique (20), a resident of Malappuram; and Uvais KK (24) from Kozhikode, Kerala. Barring Mohammad, all of the youths' parents work in Saudi Arabia. The minor is a Std XII student; the others are graduates.
The sources said a few "suspicious" handwritten transcriptions in Malayalam were recovered from them.
The six claimed that they were on a sightseeing trip to Mumbai and were headed for a mosque near JJ Hospital.
Claiming innocence
The RPF summoned the imam of the mosque, who identified the six as students of a friend's institute in Rajapura, Ratnagiri, where they have enrolled for a 23-day course in Urdu. He, too, claimed that they were visiting Mumbai to soak in the sights before setting out for Rajapura on May 25. They arrived in Panvel from Kerala recently.
Suresh Atri, inspector of Kurla RPF, said the six have been handed over to the Vashi GRP and the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has been apprised of the detention.
A source from the ATS, however, said the youths are likely to be given a clean chit. The agency has apparently not found enough incriminating evidence against them.
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