Infosys campus in Mangalore, post office in Mysore get hoax bomb calls

Hoax bomb calls were reported from Mangalre and Mysore in the State on Thursday.

While in the port city, it was the Infosys campus that received the fake alarm, the head post office was the target in the City of Palaces.

Tension prevailed at the campus of the IT major at Kottara in the heart of the City, following a call that a bomb had been planted there.

According to a police official, the office received a call at 12.44 pm and the female caller said there was bomb in the office. Soon, the higher officials of the company were alerted, the siren went off and all the employees were evacuated.

The company’s security team called the Urva police station and informed them about the call. The police, accompanied by the bomb detection squad and dog squad, entered the Infosys campus and carried out a search operation for more than an hour.

A police officer told Deccan Herald that according to the Infosys employee who received the call, the caller spoke in Tulu and Kannada.

As he realised that it was not an official call, he said ‘wrong number’ and was about to cut the call. The caller soon said ‘bomb ide’ (there is bomb) and repeated the same.
The police traced the number from which the call was made. It was found that the call was made from the landline phone belonging to Prasad Alva, owner of the city-based Prasad Art Gallery. When the police visited Alva’s house, they found that a maid who works there was behind the call.

“The girl has not yet revealed why she called Infosys. She is in a state of fear. We can get details only after an investigation,” the officer said.

Mangalore Infosys security incharge Suresh M Kunnath has filed a complaint with the police in this regard.

The bomb threat sent Infosys employees into a tizzy who were made to stand outside the compound wall till 4 pm. Normalcy returned after the police declared that it was a hoax call. The same office had received a hoax bomb call in November 2008.
In Mysore, tension prevailed for some time following the bomb threat call to the head post office at Nehru Circle, Ashoka Road.

The Lashkar police who have registered a case said Raghu, a postal assistant, received the call on the landline number between 9 am and 9.15 am. The caller who spoke in chaste Kannada warned that a bomb had been planted in the post office and that it was set to explode at 11.30 am. Raghu then informed the postmaster Narayan Nayak, who, in turn, informed the nearby police station. The police, assisted by the bomb detection squad, sniffer dogs and the anti-sabotage team, searched the office for nearly two hours, before declaring that it was a hoax all. The office had just opened, with postal assistants sorting out the mails.

ACP Kavitha, investigating officer has filed a complaint with Barke police station against Koti Prasad Alva’s family, for obstructing the police investigation.

The maid will be questioned on Friday.