KOLKATA: A passenger was taken off an Indian plane and detained for questioning on Tuesday after he posted a photo of himself on Snapchat alongside the word “terrorist”.

Yogvedant Poddar, 21, was removed from the Jet Airw­ays flight after a passenger spotted him typing “Terrorist on flight, I destroy women’s hearts” into his phone.

The caption accompanied a photo he had taken of himself which showed half of his face covered with a handkerchief.

Irish national Benjamin Pla­­­ckett was sitting behind Poddar on the Kolkata to Mu­­mbai service flight and aler­ted the cabin crew as the plane was being prepared for take-off.

Poddar was taken off the flight and detained for almost ten hours before being let go without charge.

“We questioned him extensively. We found no terror link. It was a message that was meant exclusively for his friends and was not intended to threaten or hurt anyone,” said a police official.

Jet Airways said in a statement that a passenger had been “deplaned for security reasons”.

“The aircraft departed for its destination with a revised timing” after the necessary checks had been carried out, the airline added.

In September, an Indian passenger on a GoAir flight sparked panic in mid-air when he tried to open a plane door, apparently mistaking it for the toilet.

The same week, a passenger was kicked off an IndiGo service after he tried to ac­­cess the cockpit to charge his phone while the plane was preparing for take-off.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2018