07 January,2015 08:18 AM IST | | Sagar Rajput
In a desperate bid to be reunited with his wife, Bangalutu, who had left him because of his drinking habits, a Badlapur man called up Bengaluru police and said she was planning to blow herself up
You can't make this stuff up. A 38-year-old man from Badlapur decided to ring in the New Year by ringing up the police control room in Bengaluru and claiming that a woman, Bangalutu, was a terrorist.
After receiving information that his estranged wife was in Bengaluru, Devendra Panchal called the police control room there and said that Bangalutu was a terrorist and was planning to blow herself up
He claimed that she had a bomb strapped to her body, and was planning to blow herself up in some time. Devendra Panchal, a drunkard, made the call on December 31 because he had received information that Bangalutu his wife who had left him two years ago, with their son in tow was in Bengaluru.
Instead of tracing his wife, as he had hoped, the police ended up tracing Panchal's call to Mumbai and informed their counterparts here about what he had said
So, instead of taking the trouble of looking for her in the big city, he decided to frame her and let the police find and detain her. Panchal was hoping to be reunited with his wife through the hoax call, but he landed up behind bars instead.
The Mumbai cops traced Panchal to Badlapur and picked him up from there. He was handed over to the Bengaluru police, who arrested him for making the hoax call. Illustrations/Amit Bandre
Caller traced
Panchal made the call, from a SIM card bought in his name, at 8.30 pm on New Year's Eve and the Bengaluru police informed their counterparts in Mumbai an hour later.
"The Bengaluru police noticed that the call had come from Mumbai, so instead of looking for the woman, since they just had her name, they passed on the cellphone number to us as it would be easier for us to trace the caller. We traced Panchal to Badlapur and picked him from there the same night.
The accused had bought the SIM card on December 31 itself and had called the control room thinking that they would arrest his wife, which would help him get her back in his life," said an officer from the Anti-Robbery and Dacoity Squad of the Mumbai police.
He added that Panchal and Bangalutu had got married 13 years ago. Panchal had been working for a private firm, but had lost the job, and then his wife, because of his drinking habits. Bangalutu left him two years ago and he never heard from her or his son again.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Praful Bhosale said, "The accused has been suffering from depression since the time his wife and son left him. We nabbed the accused on Sunday and, after a preliminary inquiry, handed him over to the Bengaluru police, who arrested him for the hoax call."
