'Bomb-like' gift packet triggers panic in Indiranagar

Situation turned tense at 12th Main Road in Indranagar on Thursday as hundreds of people gathered in front of a house after a packed material resembling a bomb was found placed there.

A man, who introduced himself as Pratap had called the house owner J Basanth Surana, an industrialist, that he had sent him a gift and had placed it outside his house. JB Nagar police, who rushed to the spot along with bomb detection and disposal squad, examined the packet and declared that it was not a bomb.

“We have sent the component to the Forensic Science Laboratory and the truth will be out once we receive the report,” said DCP (East) T G Krishna Bhat. “Action will be taken against those who placed the packet and called up Surana. We will consider the issue seriously at a time when the State is getting ready for Assembly polls,” the DCP added.

Surana was driving towards Peenya when he received the call from a landline number at 12.30 pm. The man spoke to him in Hindi. “I called up my daughter and asked her to collect it,” Surana told Deccan Herald. The man called him again from a mobile phone number and asked Surana in Hindi and English if he liked the gift. Soon, Surana’s daughter called back and said there was a time piece wrapped in tubes inside the packet. Surana asked his daughter to come out of the house immediately and informed the police. Surana’s daughter and daughter-in-law were at home then, he added.

As soon as the police reached the house with sniffer dogs, hundreds of people gathered there. “We barricaded the entire area and cordoned off the spot where the packet was kept. The dogs searched for explosive materials, while members of the bomb disposal squad examined the content. They opened the tubes and found some sand-like component in white and brown colours,” said Bhat.

Within minutes, the police declared that it was not a bomb and the crowd dispersed.