Bomb scare in Bombay High Court

An anonymous call claiming that a bomb was planted inside Bombay High Court premises here today sent security agencies into tizzy, who later found it was a hoax.

"There was an anonymous call on the police extension line in the High Court this morning claiming that there is a bomb in HC premises. As a precaution, we carried out searches in the High Court building," said Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Deven Bharti.

Soon after the call, policemen swung into action with two sniffer dogs and thoroughly checked the courtroom of a division bench of Justices V M Kanade and B P Colabawalla at around 12 noon but no suspicious object was found there, police said.

The judges who sat at 11 in the morning for court proceedings had to go back to their chambers to enable cops to carry out searches.

When asked if the caller specifically said that the bomb was planted in Justice Kanade's court room, Bharti said, "No, it was a general alert saying there was a bomb in the High Court."

Justice Kanade has been hearing several sensitive cases including the petitions on beef ban, Nestle Maggi case, Best Bakery convictions, Haji Ali women entry case among others.

 Searches by policemen became more vigorous during lunch hours when sniffer dogs were taken to several court rooms and offices of High Court staff.

Following this, two unattended bags were found in the ground floor corridor of the High Court. However, it yielded nothing.

Earlier, sources who were present in the court room said the police enquired if they had seen anyone suspicious or any abandoned bag or object in the court.