The Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) police arrested a 31-year-old man, identified as, Suraj Dharma Jadhav, in connection with giving false information about a bomb blast at Mumbai University. The hoax bomb call was made on Wednesday, which spread panic across the two university campus in Kalina and Fort. While the police officials and the Bomb Squad had reached the spot, nothing was recovered.
According to police sources, at around 4pm on Wednesday, the Mumbai Police control room had received an information from an unidentified caller, claiming that the Mumbai University will be blown up in the next 10 mins. This call sent chills down the force and a team led by acting senior police inspector of BKC police station, Kanhaiyalal Shinde, reached the spot along with the bomb squad, State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) and began a search on the Kalina campus.
Meanwhile, the police were also tracing the unidentified caller and attempts to contact him were underway, but to no avail as he had switched off his phone. When acting senior PI Shinde contacted the caller, he received the call. "I posed as an old man in dire need of help, asking him to meet me in person. The man, who said he was in Vakola, however, was not convinced and kept asking me if I was a policeman. Even as he agreed to meet, Jadhav later switched off his phone and ignored my calls," added Shinde.
Repeated calls were made to the man and he finally agreed to meet the police near a bar in Vakola, where police had laid a trap. Jadhav tried to escape the meeting, claiming he could see police deployment there, but was asked by Shinde to wait for him in a dining home. When the accused walked into the trap at around 6pm on March 9, he was nabbed by the police team.
During the interrogation it was revealed that Jadhav had multiple cases of assault, theft against him and was a criminal on record. "Jadhav said that his wife, who works near Mumbai University, was at loggerheads with him and he had gone to make up with her. Jadhav, was however, asked to leave by the University watchman, which allegedly triggered him to make the hoax bomb call," Shinde added.
Jadhav was booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for 505(1)(b) (intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public) and 506(2) (punishment for criminal intimidation). He was produced before a local magistrate court and remanded in police custody.
