Bengaluru, April 27
A bomb blast call that sent police in four southern states into a tizzy turned out to be a hoax call made by a drunken man, police sources said on Saturday.
The caller was Sundar Murthy, a 60-year-old man arrested for raising false alarm, officials said.
Murthy is believed to have called up a police control room in Bengaluru to alert them about 19 militants currently holed up in Tamil Nadu who were planning to bomb cities, trains and buses in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Police immediately put the states on high alert. Meanwhile, investigators traced the call to Avalahalli near here.
Murthy is believed to have made the call drunk.
“During interrogation, he told us that he gets possessed by some divine souls who make prophecies in his vision and his call was based on one such vision,” said Additional Commissioner of Police Alok Kumar. “The fact is he is a drunkard,” said the police official.
Murthy told police that he was an ex-serviceman, who is now driving a tipper-lorry.
His two sons are serving in the army while he was staying with his third son at Avalahalli.
Police also received a call warning of a bomb blast at the Pamban sea bridge in Tamil Nadu’s Rameswaram on Friday, immediately prompting searches.
Recently, Bengaluru Police Commissioner T Suneel Kumarhad convened a meeting with heads of various temples and religious places and managers of commercial establishments to take extra precautions and alert police on finding something suspicious.
The call came days after eight bombs tore through Sri Lanka’s churches and luxury hotels killing over 250 and wounding hundreds of others.
