Bomb hoax delays Kalam's flight by 3 hours

An anonymous caller claims that a bomb has been planted in plane, which was to carry the President to Delhi.

A bomb hoax delayed by three hours, the departure of a special Indian Air Force aircraft carrying President APJ Abdul Kalam to New Delhi.

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The flight, which was scheduled to leave at 11 pm on Monday night, took off from Chennai at 2 am after security agencies, aided by sniffer dogs and bomb disposal squads, conducted a thorough check and gave the green signal to fly, airport sources said.

An anonymous caller had rung up the police control room claiming a bomb was planted in a Tamil Nadu government aircraft by which Governor SS Barnala was to travel, police said.

But since the Governor had no travel plans and the President's special aircraft was scheduled to leave, the authorities took no chances and thoroughly checked the IAF aircraft berthed at the base seven of Meenambakkam airport.

Police said the caller spoke in Tamil and efforts were on to trace him.

The call came when the President, who attended a series of functions in the city through the day, was talking to his relatives, who had come to meet him from his native place Rameswaram, well after the ceremonial send-off by the Governor.