Karnataka - Mangalore   

Bomb hoax triggers panic in several places

— Photo: R. Eswarraj

Monday panic: The abandoned suitcase which was shifted to Nehru Maidan by the police in Mangalore; and Senior police officers accompanied by sniffer dogs inspecting a baggage containing a computer and peripherals in Gulbarga city.

MANGALORE: The city got a fright at noon on Monday after a black leather briefcase was found abandoned at the crowded Central Market area. A police constable, who was buying groceries at the market, returned to his parked motorcycle to find the briefcase on top of it. He raised an alarm and brought the case to the Nehru Maidan with the help of his counterparts.

Seeing police activity and a briefcase, passers-by began pouring in.By the time the sniffer dogs were brought in, there were over 3,000 curious onlookers. When the sniffer dogs barked, the police said this signalled the presence of chemical substances in the case.

The top brass of the city’s Police Department, led by Superintendent of Police N. Sateesh Kumar reached the spot minutes after the incident. Speaking to presspersons, Mr. Kumar said that a bomb squad was requisitioned and was on its way from Bangalore.

Finally, at around 3 p.m. a man showed up at the site, walked straight to the cordoned off area where the case was kept and told the gathered police officers that the bag belonged to his employer. Bored by hours of waiting, the people lunged towards the claimant. The policemen were forced to take him away.

A little later the man reappeared with his employer, who identified himself as K.C. Alva. While everybody’s attention was turned towards the duo,another man tried to make away with the bag. He was caught by the crowed and thrashed.

When the police caught the bag snatcher, he identified himself as Ravi, and said: “I am an ex-serviceman and I wanted to diffuse the bomb. I do not care for my life, I wanted to save yours.” This drew peals of laughter from everyone gathered because Mr. Alva had opened the bag in the confusion and revealed its contents.

The case was found to contain only a few documents and some fresh currency notes.

Explaining the barking of the dogs earlier, one of the handlers said that the dogs bark when they detect any kind of chemical, even the chemicals found in fresh currency notes.

After the brouhaha, Mr. Alva explained that his wife had misplaced the bag earlier in the day and that he had lodged a complaint with the Kavoor Police station.

However, the Sub-Inspector of Police from the Kavoor station, Ananthapadmanabha, denied that he had received a complaint from Mr. Alva.

The event exposed the lack of preparation of the city police when forced to deal with an emergency. The area was cordoned off with barricades a good hour after the crowds gathered. .

However, Mr. Sateesh Kumar expressed his satisfaction at what he called an “unexpected mock-drill”. He agreed that crowd control could have been better and said that if a similar situation rises in the future the potentially explosive device would be taken to the police grounds.

He also agreed that a fire-engine and ambulance could have been made available on the spot.

“But we were almost sure that there was no explosive because we could not detect a detonator through our devices. It is only the reaction of the dogs that had us a little worried.”

Gulbarga Special Correspondent reports:

Meanwhile, on Monday morning in Gulbarga city, two plastic bags found abandoned in Adarsh Nagar, a residential locality, sent panic signals among the residents. The police, who arrived with the bomb detection squad and sniffer dogs, took control of the situation. Asking the people to back off to a safe distance, the bomb detection squad removed the bags to a safer place and opened them. They found that the two bags were stuffed with a monitor, keyboard, mouse and central processing unit. The news about the abandoned bags spread like wildfire in the city and a large number of people had collected near the scene.

Meanwhile, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) condemned the serial bomb blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad. The members of the IUML, who took out a rally in the city condemning the blasts, demanded stern action against the culprits responsible for the incidents.

Kolar Staff Correspondent reports:

Panic gripped Kolar when an abandoned box was sighted at a busy centre in town. The box was found near the Sub-Registrar’s office, which is close to the taluk office, a cinema hall, a park and schools.

When the police were informed, Circle Inspector Satyanarayan Kudur and Sub-Inspector T.S. Dinesh rushed to the spot and seized the box. The police and public were relieved when it was found to contain only electrical tools. Police have taken adequate precautionary measures in the district to prevent any untoward incident. All the vehicles are being checked at the bypass on Bangalore-Chennai Road and Srinivaspur Circle, sources said.

Bangalore Staff Reporter writes:

Inspector-General of Police (Central Range) Kamalpanth said the police were working on all possible leads in connection with the recovery of 7 kg of ammonium nitrate in Channapatna on July 24.

This explosive substance was recovered from the spot of a “failed explosion”, which was found to be similar to the substance used in the eight blasts that occurred in Bangalore on July 25.

The news of this discovery created panic among some people, who tried to avoid stopping at Ramanagaram and Channapatna while travelling to Mysore on Monday. The police, however, refuted reports on panic prevailing among the people residing along the Bangalore-Mysore highway.

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