Tense moments prevailed at Sri Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple here following an anonymous call received at the 108 ambulance service control room saying that a bomb was planted on the temple premises early on Monday.
The caller called the 108 control room at around 5 a.m. and warned that a bomb would explode on the temple premises. Immediately, police were alerted. They arrived at the spot and combed the premises with metal detectors and sniffer dogs. Temple officials said a thorough check of the premises was carried out for over two hours and no objectionable or suspicious objects were found.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Samanth Rohan Rajendra visited the spot. Police sources said the hoax call had been traced to Shenoy Nagar, Madurantakam, and a probe was on.
Security was beefed up at the temple following the hoax call and additional police pickets were posted at the main tower entrances. Executive Officer of the temple P. Jayaraman said they had been notified to tighten security in the temple ahead of the upcoming elections.
The temple already has police personnel posted at key entrances throughout the day. Apart from this, personnel manning the police watchtowers around the temple have been put on alert.
Temple officials said devotees were usually allowed inside the temple on all days only after thorough checking. While the bags and items carried inside were checked manually, five baggage scanners were also functioning at the entrances.
There were about 30 CCTV cameras inside the temple premises which were monitored from a control room, they said.
