Migrant labourer held for making hoax bomb call at Dana Mandi

Soon after receiving the information, the police swung into action and launched a massive search operation to detect an object suspected to be containing explosives

Police have arrested a man for making a hoax bomb threat at Dana Mandi near Jalandhar bypass where anti-CAA protest was organised on Wednesday.

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The accused, Amit Mahato of Begu district in Bihar, who was currently living here at Maskeen Nagar, had called the PCR around 5pm on Tuesday and claimed that someone was “making a bomb” in Dana Mandi.

“Soon after receiving the information, the police swung into action and launched a massive search operation to detect an object suspected to be containing explosives,” said ADCP Gurpreet Singh Sikand.

He said metal detectors and sniffer dogs were also pressed into service. “However, the overnight search operation yielded no result. Due to security reasons, the scheduled protest was also delayed. Later, during the day, police traced the call to Amit and nabbed him, who had made the hoax bomb call to trigger panic,” Sikand said.

A case under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act and Sections 160 (committing affray) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC was registered against Amit at Salem Tabri police station.

Sikand said the accused had made the call in inebriated condition.

“He had later switched off his phone, due to which we could not trace him till Wednesday morning. He works as a labourer in a factory on Bahadur Ke Road. We are also verifying his background and checking his record from Bihar police,” he said.