A 33-year-old man, a Worli resident, has been arrested by the police for calling up the fire brigade control room and giving false information about a fire in his building.
Details of case
On Saturday afternoon, the Worli Fire Brigade control room received a call from the Byculla Fire Brigade control room informing them about a fire at the SRA Mahalaxmi Building, located at Pandurang Budhkar Marg in between Lower Parel and Worli areas. The caller had told the Byculla control that the building’s C wing had caught fire and needed emergency service.
As and when the Worli control received the alert, a team led by Harishchandra Narkar, a senior officer, was formed, and a total of six fire brigade vehicles were dispatched to the location. As they reached, they saw no fire at the said location. When they inquired with the locals, they said no fire incident had taken place in the area. Narkar called up the Byculla fire brigade officials and informed them about the false alert when a man walked up to him and told him he had made the call to the control about the fire.
Caller was simply experimenting
When asked about why he made the call, he said to just check what happens after making the call. Narkar then called up the Worli police station, and when the police asked the man about his name, he said, his name was Shivraj Umesh Arunthathiyar, a resident of SRA Mahalaxmi Building.
According to Ravindra Katkar, senior police inspector of Worli, the accused Shivraj was drunk when he dialled the control room. “There is no specific motive, he was just drunk and wanted to trouble everyone in his building. We arrested him on the spot,” said Katkar.
Arunthathiyar has been slapped with charges under section 182 (false information, with intent to cause public servant to use his lawful power to the injury of another person), 505 (2) (whoever makes, publishes, or circulates any statement or report containing rumour or alarming news), and 507 (criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication) of Indian Penal Code.
