Crank call on June 22 caused panic in Delhi police ranks; culprit arrested on Thursday

'Blasts at Sarojini Nagar, Lajpar Nagar'

Crank call on June 22 caused panic in Delhi police ranks; culprit arrested on Thursday

He had sent the Capital's police in a tizzy on the intervening night of June 21 and 22 with hoax calls of impending bomb blasts at Sarojini Nagar and Lajpat Nagar markets. 35-year-old Mahender Choudhary was arrested on Thursday from Mehrauli.

"Mahender stole two mobiles from an ITBP officer's residence and used these phones to call Delhi police that night about. He said that the explosions will happen in three days. After these calls our additional teams including dog squads and bomb squads were alerted and we started examining the markets. During the day these markets are packed with people, so we couldn't take a risk.

We searched each and every corner; we even scrutinised the CCTV footage to find any suspicious person. Finally, we came up with nothing. But during the commotion, commuters and shoppers suffered inconvenience. Then we started tracking the phone number from which the calls were made," said a police officer.

During investigations the police came to know that the number belonged to a security personnel and the address was of Godhra in Gujrat. Further probe revealed that the owner of the number was working in the ITBP and was posted in Delhi. The police found the security personnel but they discovered that two of his mobiles had been stolen.

"We put the phone numbers (from which the hoax calls were made) on technical surveillance. Then we found that the phones had been stolen. After sustained investigations we located the thief and arrested Mahender. During interrogations he revealed that he had made the calls under the influence of alcohol," the officer added.