Lucknow: For about two hours, world famous Taj Mahal in Agra was under siege by CISF, police and bomb disposal squad personnel following a bomb scare.
Tourists were evacuated out and the white-marble mausoleum was shut for tourists at 9.30 am after an unidentified caller claimed to have planted a bomb inside.
The call was received at UP 112. Within minutes, the CISF, Police and Bomb disposal squad were deployed in. The East and West gates of the monument were closed after evacuating tourists from inside. As a precautionary measure, shopkeepers around Taj Mahal were also asked to put down their shutters.
The search operation continued for about two hours. Every nook and corner of the monument was thoroughly checked by the CISF along with bomb disposal and the local police to look for any suspicious object.
The Superintendent of Police (Protocol) Shiv Ram Yadav said that nothing was found during the checking operation and Taj Mahal was reopened after two hours. Additional force was deployed inside and outside the monument as precaution, he added, claiming that it was a bomb hoax.
According to Agra police, an unidentified person dialled UP 112 on Thursday morning around 9.15 am and threatened that he has planted a bomb inside Taj Mahal which will blow after some time. The caller was annoyed with the paper leak and irregularities being committed in Army recruitments.
The police and intelligence sleuths swung into action and traced the call to Firozabad. An alert was sounded to SP Protocol and security at the monument. The security personnel heaved a sigh of relief after finding nothing inside Taj Mahal during the search operation.
The caller has been arrested and is being interrogated.
