Prankster triggers bomb panic at Nagpur station during high alert

Nagpur: Railway officials and security forces had a harrowing time in the early hours of Friday after a prankster, identified as Ishwar Sawalkar, called up the control room of the National investigation agency (NIA) in New Delhi and threatened to blow up platform No. 8 of the Nagpur station. Sawalkar was later rounded up by the crime branch and handed over to Sonegaon police.

Given the nationwide high alert in the wake of the Ayodhya verdict, the authorities swung into action, leaving nothing to chance. Sawalkar learnt to have made the calls under influence of alcohol. He had turned into an alcoholic since his father’s death.

The call, made at about 2.15am, was traced to the city by the NIA, but the SIM belonged to someone residing in Kandivili, Mumbai. The woman, in whose name the SIM was purchased, was quizzed.

It’s learnt that she had given the SIM to her relative, Sawalkar, who resides in the city’s Ujjwal Nagar. The city police control room also tried to contact Sawalkar, asking him for the details of the place where the explosives were kept on platform No. 8, but he remained evasive in his replies.

Sources said Sawalkar, after speaking to the city police control room at length, had later switched off the cell phone. The bomb detection and disposal squads (BDDS) of city police, government railway police (GRP) and the Railway protection force (RPF) also conducted a thorough check of the railway station and platforms, including platform No. 8, before declaring it safe.

Even after the threat call turned out to be a hoax, divisional railway manager (DRM), central railway, Somesh Kumar, met city police chief BK Upadhyay later on Friday to discuss security measures and seek assistance. Senior railway officials stressed the need for enhanced patrolling and surveillance, in and around the railway station premises.

Senior divisional security commissioner, railway protection force (RPF), central railway, Bhavani Shankar Nath, said the number of personnel at the railway station was increased after the alert was sounded. “We have increased manpower for scanning bags. We have also deployed our sniffer canine squad to detect explosives,” he said.

“Senior officers have been called back from various postings. Sanctioned leave had to be cancelled to ensure their presence at the headquarters,” said Nath, adding, anti-sabotage checks at railway stations have been intensified.