PONDICHERRY: An anonymous phone call to a private school on Wednesday morning, that a bomb had been planted disrupted, the day's activities in all schools within the town.

Alpha School, which is situated near the bus stand, received the phone call at around 8.30 a.m. that explosives had been planted inside its premises.

The Orleanpet police station received a complaint from the school and immediately conducted a search in the school's premises after evacuating the students, according to B. Srikanth, Additional Superintendent of Police. He said the search proved that the call was hoax. But then, as the news about the bomb threat spread, panicking parents started pouring into schools requesting the authorities to declare a holiday.

By around 3 p.m. all schools excepting two were closed for the day, G. Ragesh Chandra, Director of School Education told The Hindu . He made it clear that all the schools in the Pondicherry region would function as usual on Thursday.

Traffic, especially at Upplam area where most of the schools are located, went haywire as students and parents swarmed the roads.

Investigations are on to locate the caller and a special team was screening all the phone calls made to the school. Till late in the evening there was no clue. Police said they were also probing whether there was any connection between the bomb scare and the drive police conducted against overloaded vehicles carrying school children on Wednesday morning. During the drive, several vehicles were seized and cases booked.

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