An anonymous caller created flutter and kept the city police on their toes for a few minutes on Thursday night.
The police, later, traced the caller as a 23-year-old engineering graduate of Jeeva Nagar near Hope College in the city.
It is learnt that around 10.50 p.m., on Thursday, the police control room received the call. The caller had said that he had planted five bombs in the city and that they would go off soon. Police sources said that in the call that lasted a few seconds, the caller asked the police to find out where it was planted – if possible – before disconnecting the call.
A case was registered by the Race Course Police under section 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code.
On one hand the police informed the bomb detection and disposal squad and the city dog squad to be ready for conducting a search. On the other hand, the police called the landline number from which they received the call. N. Selvaraj (50), a shopkeeper from Hope College , answered the call and informed the police that it was a public call office.
The police on night rounds rushed to the spot in a few minutes. The police said that Selvaraj’s shop was close to his house and that the PCO was right outside the shop.
Mentally unstableInquiries revealed that Selvarj's son Vignesh (23), a Mechatronics graduate, made the call without the knowledge of his parents.
The parents had informed the police that their son was mentally unstable.
The youth was picked up for inquiry, warned not to indulge in any mischief and sent home.