Hyderabad, March 06: Panic prevailed for over two hours on the AP High Court premises following a bomb threat on Friday morning. The threat, that sent the police and the security officials in the court into a tizzy, later turned out to be a hoax.
It was around 8 a.m. when the High Court staff received a call that a bomb had been planted on the premises. However, the caller hung up without giving further details.
The staff immediately alerted the police and the courtroom was vacated. Internal security officials cordoned off the area. Additional police forces along with the Bomb Disposal Squad and a Dog Squad rushed to the spot and scanned the premises for over two hours. Senior police officials too rushed to the court.
According to Charminar sub-inspector of police A Sudhakar, around 8 am, an attender at the High Court received a call on the landline.
The caller had informed him that a bomb has been planted in the court and it could go off any moment. “The call turned out to be a hoax,” he said adding, work in the court, however, was not affected. A similar hoax call was received in October last, Sudhakar said. Such calls put the police under tremendous pressure and also hinder their routine work. “We cannot ignore such calls and take chances,” another officer said.
While mischief-mongers have been taking the police for a ride, the latter have not been very successful in tracing the callers who mostly use the public telephone booths for the purpose.
The Charminar Police registered a case and investigation is on.
–Agencies