A 24-year-old man was arrested for allegedly making a hoax call on Sunday about a bomb being planted at the Zaveri Bazaar area in Mumbai.
According to the police, the accused, Dinesh Pandurag Sutar, a resident of Sangola, Solapur, was upset over his breakup, which made him do this. He made the same stint to spread fear at Nannaj in Ahmednagar, where his ex-girlfriend resided.
The police officials at LT Marg police station confirmed the information that they received a call from Mumbai Police's control room saying, "There is a bomb being planted at Khaugali in Zaveri Bazaar."
"We immediately reached the spot and vacated the entire stretch with the entire force. We began the search operation in every possible spot along with the Bomb Detection and Disposal Sqaud while subsequently, our cyber team was working on tracing the number that the control room received the call on. "
The team had then sent an alert to the Anti-Terrorism Squad as the Zaveri Bazaar had witnessed several blasts in the past. For the same reason, the police gathered on the spot immediately and initiated the search operation as a precautionary measure.
As per the cyber team, the contact number was registered under the name of Sutar. "We started tracing the contact number and found out that the tower location of his number was near Panchayat Wadi in the Bhuleshwar area. We also tried calling his number to identify if he was simply spreading roumours and, if not, where he had planted the bomb if he did. But he was constantly rejecting the calls," said the officer.
He was held by the police after identifying his location. According to the police, Sutar had come to Mumbai and had been residing in Kalbadevi for the past 8 to 10 days.
During the investigation, it was also known that Sutar, before making the call about Zaveri Bazaar, made a similar call in Nannaj in Ahmednagar, where his ex-girlfriend is residing, confirmed senior police inspector Jyoti Desai, LT Marg Police station. It is also known that Sutar before leaving for Mumbai from his hometown, had an agitated fight with his family members.
The police have registered a case against Sutar under sections 506 (2) (criminal intimidation), 505(1)(b) (intent to cause fear or alarm to the public), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 182 (false information with intent to cause a public servant to use his lawful power), 507 (criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication) and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
