Rumours and unverified messages on social media regarding terrorists on the loose in the city had the police on their toes on Tuesday as they tried to prevent panic from spreading.
This was triggered by an incident on Monday evening at Majestic metro station when a person carrying metallic objects set off an alarm while passing through the metal detector.
According to DCP (West) Ravi D. Channannavar, the private security agency employed by Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) at the station provided CCTV footage of a person entering the door-frame metal detector which beeped as he passed through. When a security personnel stopped him for further screening, he chose to leave the station.
By Tuesday, however, the incident was blown out of proportion with WhatsApp messages warning people of a terror attack. “These WhatsApp messages are fake news and reckless rumour mongering. There have been a flood of such rumours after the terror attacks in Sri Lanka. But there is no truth to any of them,” said City Police Commissioner T. Suneel Kumar.
“As the Police Commissioner of the city, I can confirm that there are no terrorists on the loose here,” he said.
Bengaluru City Police put out similar messages on their Facebook page. While one claimed that four terrorists were spotted in the city, another had images of people labelled as terrorists, claiming that they had been released by the Bellandur police.
Mr. Kumar also blamed the media for creating an unwarranted fear psychosis among citizens. Last May, the city and several parts of the State saw innocent people being attacked and lynched after a WhatsApp message on child kidnappers spread panic among citizens.
“We do not want a repeat of what happened then,” said a police officer, recalling an incident of a mob in Bengaluru lynching a man they thought was a child-trafficker.
Meanwhile, the Upparpet police has taken up a case of the security incident at Majestic, based on information provided by BMRCL. Chief PRO of the BMRCL Mr B.L. Yeshwanth Chavan said, “We have shared the CCTV footage with the police about the incident. The police are investigating the case.”
