The Hindu : Hoax calls continue to baffle police

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 12, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

Hoax calls continue to baffle police

POLICE AND the public have been put to a great hardship due to the increase in the number of anonymous calls about "bombs" planted at public places.

Although they have turned out to be hoax calls, as in the case of the one received on Thursday by an employee of the Standard Chartered Bank located in Raheja Towers on Mahatma Gandhi Road, police have never taken chances.

Ulsoor police, in whose jurisdiction the Raheja Towers is situated, spent three hours along with the personnel of the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad, searching for explosives in the multi-storeyed commercial complex.

Often, such calls have put the short-staffed and overburdened police under tremendous pressure and hindered their routine work. Explaining the hardship they face in this regard, a senior officer says: "Mobilising the personnel of the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad and sniffer dogs takes time, as they are based at different places. While the Dog Squad is stationed in the CAR South office in Koramangala, the Bomb Detection Squad personnel are at the Police Commissioner's Office on the Infantry Road.''

Further, police cannot ignore such calls and take chances, as there will be loss of life and property if something untoward happens.

Although mischief-makers have been taking police for a ride by making hoax calls, the law-enforcing agency has not been able to identify the callers, who normally use public call offices.

While there are different theories about the motives of the callers, police dismiss them, and say that they are only "pranksters''. For instance, there is speculation that criminals make hoax calls to divert the attention of police when they want to commit a crime and escape.

"Such things can happen only in rural areas where police stations have limited staff, and not in Bangalore, where there are many officers on the job,'' an officer maintains.

Over the years, a majority of the callers have spoken of bombs planted in government offices, and some police officers suspect that a few mischievous employees may have made the calls. "As it takes a few hours to search the premises, the employees are made to vacate their offices.

Some employees might have made such calls to skip work,'' an officer says. But there is no evidence to prove this theory.

Earlier, the City Police Control Room used to receive many hoax calls. With the installation of the caller identification device at the Control Room, callers have now adopted a new strategy to cause nuisance: they telephone banks and schools, besides government offices.

For instance, on August 16, 2000, four schools in the City received anonymous calls that bombs had been planted on their premises.

Police searched St. Mary's School at Pillanna Garden in Kadugondanahalli police station limits, Jack and Jill School in Fraser Town police station limits, and St. Anthony School and St. Aloysius School located on the St. Xavier's Church premises in Bharathinagar police station limits.

Scaremongers have not spared even the Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, and his ministerial colleagues. On July 25, 2000, the State Cabinet meeting was suspended for nearly 30 minutes following a call that a bomb had been placed in the Vidhana Soudha. A few days before that, the Police Control Room received a call that explosives had been planted at the official residence of Mr. Krishna.

A few months ago, the departure of a Jet Airways flight to Mumbai was delayed by hours following an anonymous call that a bomb had been planted in the aircraft. Sometime ago, work had to be suspended at the City Civil Courts after a hoax call about a bomb planted in the court complex on Nrupatunga Road.

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