delhi

Updated: Jan 16, 2018 23:40 IST

A Bahrain-bound NRI has been stranded at the Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport for the past three days after his handbag containing his passport was mistakenly taken away by a passenger to Canada.

Satyendra Singh said he arrived in Delhi from Lucknow on Saturday and was in transit to Bahrain.

“On Saturday afternoon, I reached Delhi and went for security check to catch the international flight. The queue was long so I put my handbag in the scanner. By the time I reached for check and crossed it, I could not find my bag. I informed the security, who checked the CCTV footage and found that another passenger took the bag and boarded the Air Canada flight. The flight had already departed by then,” said Singh, a US national, working in Bahrain. The Canada-bound passenger had reportedly taken Singh’s bag leaving his own behind.

The ordeal had just started for Singh as he was left with no money or clothes. He spent the night on the floor of the terminal as he could not leave the terminal due to security reasons. His immigration had been cleared in Lucknow, so he could not even go back.

“I informed my family and they said they will send some money so that I could buy food. But there was no way they could have contacted me. Finally, On Sunday, Air India shifted me to the lounge and I am currently here. Besides the passport, my handbag had my medicines,” he added.

As it happened Satyendra Singh arrives in Delhi from Lucknow on Saturday -- in transit to Bahrain.

After security check, Singh fails to find his handbag which he had put in the scanner.

Through CCTV footage, security officials find that another passenger, bound for Canada, has mistakenly taken the bag, leaving their own behind.

Singh spends the night on the floor of the terminal as he could not leave the terminal due to security reasons. Air India later shifts the man to a lounge.

Singh’s bag arrives at Delhi airport on Monday evening.

Singh had come to India to meet his parents, who live in Lucknow. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) said they could not do much as the security protocol does not allow a passenger to return unless he has a passport.

The airlines, however, acted promptly and the Air Canada flight, carrying Singh’s bag arrived at Delhi airport on Monday evening. “Singh was provided accommodation and food at the Air India lounge and we helped him getting the passport back,” a spokesperson for Air India said.