Mumbai Crime: Hoax bomb calls made by three tipsy drivers

Amitabh Bachchan

Phone calls made on Friday night gave the Mumbai Police a scare as an unknown person claimed to have planted bombs at four locations, including major railway stations and Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan's house. The calls led to frantic searches conducted at the said places by the Mumbai and Railway police. Meanwhile, the Criminal Intelligence Unit (CIU) wing traced down the callers to Kalyan and found them in an inebriated state. Three callers have been arrested by the police.

On Friday night, around 8.53 pm, the Mumbai Police control room received a call about bombs being planted at Bachchan's Juhu residence, as well as three major railway stations - Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Dadar and Byculla. Immediately, an operation led by the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) was launched.

However, the officials did not find anything and the call turned out to be a hoax. Meanwhile, CIU, which had been tracing the calls, got through the number, which after being picked up once, was switched off.

The police traced the location of the mobile, and arrested the caller from Kalyan Shilpata. They were celebrating the occasion of Gatari, when the police arrested them. They were indentified as Rakesh Kangne, Ganesh Shelke and Ramesh Shirshat. All three are drivers by profession.

When the Crime Branch officials interrogated the three, they said that they made the calls under the influence of alcohol. CIU police inspector Milind Kathe told mid-day, "We have caught the accused and handed them over to the Azad Maidan police. Further investigations are on."

Another official said that the three accused have been arrested after registering a case at Azad Maidan police station. "They have been arrested under sections 505(1), 506(2) and 182 of the IPC," he said.