Booze, mental illness behind most hoax calls to control room: Mumbai police

This year, the police received 13 hoax calls pertaining to bomb and life threats, out of which six have been detected. File pic

Drunkenness and mental illness are the roots of most hoax calls received by the Mumbai police control room. Police officers also said some callers make threats against prominent industrialists and celebrities in a fit of rage. According to the Mumbai crime branch, this year the police received 13 hoax calls pertaining to bomb and life threats, out of which six have been detected.

In 2021, 18 such calls were made out of which three were detected. In most cases, the culprit was found to have been drunk at the time they contacted the authorities. "Some give false information just for fun but others are mentally ill," a senior officer of the crime branch said. The police have also noticed that some people who dial control room number 112 to give false information suffer from depression due to personal issues.

Also read: Drunk man makes bomb hoax calls to Mumbai Police, held

"Every call received by the control about bomb threats is being dealt with as per the standard operating procedure, which includes sending a bomb disposal and detection (BDDS) and dog squad, and in most cases, it turns out to be a hoax," said Suhas Warke, joint commissioner of police, crime.

Recently, on October 21, a 30-year-old Kalina resident and lifeguard, Suraj Jadhav, was arrested by the Vakola police for allegedly claiming that a bomb had been planted at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Vakola.

The cops and BDDS team carried out searches at the spot but found nothing. The person was later traced and found to be under the influence of alcohol. He had been arrested by the BKC police, in 2020, for a similar offence where he allegedly claimed that a bomb had been placed at the Mumbai University campus in Kalina.

On the very same day, another person was arrested by the Marine Drive police from West Bengal for allegedly calling the personal assistant to the chairman of a nationalised bank and demanding a Rs10 lakh loan and threatening to blow up the bank's headquarters and kill the bank chairman. The Marine Drive police arrested him at the India-Bangladesh border. It was later learnt that he, too, was a repeat offender, and was suffering from depression.

Earlier in October, the Mumbai police and other district police were put on high alert after a Mumbai resident called the Lonavala police under the influence of alcohol claiming that a conspiracy was being hatched to kill Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde in a hotel in Lonavala. The man was later arrested by the Lonavala police and it was found that he was inebriated and wanted to teach a lesson to the hotel for overcharging him for a water bottle. In September, a drunken 24-year-old, Dinesh Sutar, called the Mumbai police control room in the wake of a breakup and claimed that a bomb had been planted at Zaveri Bazaar.

In August 2021, three inebriated men were arrested by the crime branch for allegedly calling the Mumbai police control for kicks and claiming that bombs had been planted at four locations, including the residence of actor Amitabh Bachchan. The accused, during their interrogation, claimed that they wanted to test the alertness of the Mumbai police.

This year, two calls were made to the Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital, where the caller threatened to harm businessman Mukesh Ambani and his family and blow up his residence, Antilia, as well as the hospital. In the first case, which was reported in mid-September, the Mumbai police arrested one person from Dahisar. He was later released on bail after spending nearly a month behind bars.

The court said that, as per the records, the person was mentally ill and his family gave an undertaking that he wouldn't do such things again. In the first week of October, the hospital received the second threat call and the culprit was arrested from Bihar. The police found out that he was jobless and depressed. Later, the accused's lawyer claimed he suffers from schizophrenia.

"Many bomb threats calls made by minors and the mentally ill are not even put on record after suspicious activities are ruled out. The culprits are let off with a warning. These incidents go up during festival seasons," a crime branch officer said. According to sources, various cases have gone undetected because of the callers have used different electronic gadgets and the calls were made using virtual private networks (VPN) or contacted the cops from abroad.

In August this year, a message was received from a Pakistani number by the traffic police control room, claiming that a 26/11-type attack was imminent in Mumbai. The message mentioned the numbers of 12 'conspirators' who were in Mumbai and other parts of the country, but when the cops questioned each and every person, it turned out to be a wild goose chase. The investigation, however, confirmed that the call had come from Pakistan.

18
The no of hoax calls received by Mumbai police control room in 2021