Karnataka - Bangalore   

Hoax calls cause bomb scare at three educational institutions

Staff Reporter

Student arrested for Sunday's hoax SMS about bomb planted at Garuda Mall

HOAXERS GALORE: Vikas Bohra, accused of sending a hoax SMS message on Sunday about a bomb at Garuda Mall, being brought to the office of the Commissioner of Police in Bangalore on Monday. (Right) The police and the Bomb Disposal Squad checking the p remises of Goodwill Girls High School, near Coles Park, in Bangalore on Monday after a caller warned that a bomb had been placed there. The call turned out to be a hoax. — Photo: K. Gopinathan

BANGALORE: Three educational institutions in Bangalore received anonymous telephone calls on Monday saying that bombs had been planted on their premises.

The police said such calls were made to Goodwill Girls' High School in Fraser Town police station limits, M.S. Ramaiah Dental College in Sanjaynagar police station limits, and Divya Shanti School in Lingarajapuram.

The police, along with staff of the Bomb Disposal Squad and sniffer dogs, searched the premises of the three institutions. No explosives were found and the calls turned out to be a hoax, the police said.

The first call was made to the principal of Goodwill School, situated near Coles Park, around 9.45 a.m. The caller said that the bomb planted in the school would explode at 10.30 a.m. The calls to M.S. Ramaiah Dental College and Divya Shanti School were made in the afternoon. The students were asked to vacate the premises of the institutions to enable the police to conduct the search.

The police have registered cases in this regard.

As news spread, concerned parents took back their wards home from St. Ann's School in Ulsoor, though there was no call was made to the school.

The Ashoknagar police have arrested a final year B.Com student who allegedly sent an SMS from his cellphone on Sunday stating that explosives had been planted at Garuda Mall on Magrath Road here.

The police gave the name of the student as Vikas Bohra, 21, a resident of Visveswarapuram studying in a college in the same area. The police said the hoax message had originated from his cellphone. During interrogation, Bohra reportedly told the police that he had sent the message as a prank.

The police are questioning three others in connection with the chain of SMS messages that caused panic among shoppers at the mall.

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