The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Hoax calls put pressure on the police

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 05, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Hoax calls put pressure on the police

In the past 15 days, a student and a security guard of a commercial complex have been arrested for creating bomb scare, writes K.V. Subramanya

THE SPATE of anonymous calls on explosives being planted at educational institutions and other public places have put the Bangalore police under tremendous pressure and also caused inconvenience to the people.

After the serial blasts at railway stations and trains in Mumbai on July 11, miscreants have created a bomb scare in Bangalore close to 20 times, either by making telephone calls or sending SMS through mobile phones.

The calls/messages related to planting of bombs at schools, colleges, temples, business establishments, malls and government offices. The bomb scare affected the work at several institutions and the schools were forced to suspend classes.

Hundreds of devotees at ISKCON temple on Chord Road went through anxious moments following such a scare on Thursday. However, it is another thing that all the calls/messages have turned out to be a hoax.

According to Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Gopal B. Hosur the hoax calls have put pressure on the police as they have to reach the spot immediately and conduct sabotage checks.

The bomb scare creates anxiety in the minds of the people. They feel reassured only after the police conduct searches and convince them that call was a hoax, Mr. Hosur explains.

As there has been an increase in hoax calls of late, the police are seriously after people making such calls. In the past 15 days, the police have arrested a student and a security guard of a commercial complex for creating bomb scare. The arrests would deter the other pranksters from indulging in such acts, he opines.

The problem of hoax calls is not limited to Bangalore. It is said that the police in the U.S. handle over a lakh hoax calls annually, according to Mr. Hosur.

Explaining the hardship they face whenever they receive such calls, the police say that mobilising personnel of the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad and the tracker dogs takes time as they are based at different places.

Further, the police cannot ignore such calls and take chances as, if something untoward happens, there will be loss of life and damage to property. While mischief mongers are taking the police for a ride by making such hoax calls, the police have not been able to identify most of the callers, who normally make calls from public call offices.

Earlier, the Police Control Room received most such calls. With the installation of the caller identification device there, pranksters are now calling schools, offices, banks, courts and business establishments.

The mischief mongers have not even spared Chief Ministers, Ministers and the State police chief. 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 prior to that, the Police Control Room received a call that explosives had been planted at the official residence of the then Chief Minister S.M. Krishna.

On July 3, 2004, the State Intelligence Control Room got a call that explosives had been placed in the office of the then Director-General and Inspector-General of Police M.D. Singh.

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