Mumbai Mirror
Daughter-in-law of HDFC chairman had lost the bag of clothes on a London-Mumbai flight on Sunday August 12; the bag was found near a pillar on Monday August 13
Mumbai, Aug 16: Airport officials at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International terminal are intrigued by the way a bag that went missing from a London-Mumbai flight turned up the next day in the terminal building.
On August 13, at 8.30 pm, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel raised an alarm when they saw a black suitcase lying near a pillar at gate number two of terminal 2A.
“The suitcase was lying unattended for half an hour and nobody saw anyone come to pick it up, which made the CISF guards suspicious,” says an airport official. The guards informed airport officials, who found a Jet Airways tag and the mobile number of a certain D Parekh on it. It contained clothes.
The officials called up Parekh, who turned out to be Deepak Parekh — the chairman of HDFC Bank. He said the bag belonged to his daughter-in-law, Alice who had returned from London on Sunday by Jet Airways. Alice is married to Parekh’s son, Aditya.
“After she landed in Mumbai,” he says, adding, “she did not found one of her bags and complained to the airline who told her they would find the bag and deliver it.”
What puzzles them is how the bag came to the terminal.
“If some passenger took the bag by mistake, he or she could have returned it to the airline or informed them on the same day,” says the official, adding, “How can they come inside and leave the bag in the terminal just like that?”
Even the Parekhs are surprised. “Alice was in New York and flew to London by US Air. From London, she took a connecting flight to Mumbai,” says Parekh from Pune, adding, “What is intriguing is that although the bag was not with the airline’s luggage section, all the things in the bag are intact.”
The airport officials then handed over the bag to the airline, who delivered it to the Parekh residence.
Alice was surprised to receive the bag. “The bag contained just my clothes and shampoos,” she says, “I am quite impressed with the way the airline handled the matter.”