Mumbai, September 17: The police unwittingly spread panic on Wednesday afternoon when they simulated a terror attack at a Chembur mall.
More than 300 policemen carrying AK-47 rifles and wearing bullet-proof jackets cordoned off K Mall near Diamond Garden at 11.30 am and began firing dummy bullets. As the mall is located on the arterial Sion-Trombay link road, a crowd soon gathered to watch the drama unfold, starting rumours of a terrorist attack. The mock drill lasted 90 minutes but phone calls inquiring about the `terrorist attack’ came from as far as Delhi.
The exercise was initiated by zonal deputy commissioner Dilip Patil, who rang the Chembur police station from a public telephone booth, telling them about a suspected terrorist inside the mall. “We were testing our preparedness. This will enable us to understand the topography of the area and we can swiftly take positions in case of any adverse situation,” Sawant said.
“Shoppers were running helter-skelter inside the mall till the manager announced half-an-hour later that it was a mock drill,” said Chembur resident Raju Sontakke, who had come to buy clothes and household goods. Although the police said the schools nearby had been intimated, schoolchildren were let off early. This led to further rumours about a school bus being hijacked by terrorists.
However, Sontakke supported the police and said such drills were needed to maintain preparedness.
This is the eighth drill, the policemen from the eastern region have carried out in the past two months. However, none of the previous ones resulted in panic because they were carried out indoors at BARC, BPCL, Naval armament depot and at malls in Mulund.
Additional commissioner R Kumar said the next drill would deal with a more serious situation, for example, where people are taken as hostages.
—Agencies