In two separate cases, MPSC aspirant, frustrated cook held for terror hoax calls

A frustrated cook in Mumbai called the police claiming two Pakistani men were planning to attack the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. He was arrested for making a false claim. Another man was arrested for making a bomb threat to Mantralaya.

Mumbai: After repeated refusals from women for marriage, a 36-year-old cook dialled the Mumbai police control room on Thursday, claiming that he had come across a social media post in Urdu, stating that two Pakistani men had entered the city via the sea to attack hotel Taj Mahal Palace in Colaba.

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The man, Jagdamba Prasad Singh – a cook with a caterer in the Western Suburbs – was arrested late on Thursday night from his residence at Golibar Road in Santacruz East. “The Mumbai Police control room had received the call on Thursday evening. When the cops tried to question him, he disconnected the call, and when he was called back, he gave vague answers. Our team of Unit 9 of the Mumbai crime branch headed by inspector Daya Nayak tracked him,” Raj Tilak Roshan, DCP, Mumbai crime branch, said.

“He has been frustrated for the last few days. The unmarried man has been looking for a suitable match but was frustrated due to repeated refusals from the women he found suitable,” a police officer said.

Meanwhile, an MPSC aspirant also called the police control room on Thursday, claiming that there was a bomb kept in Mantralaya.

“We traced the man to Pathardi in Ahmednagar district, and he was arrested and identified as Bhausaheb Dhakane, 34. He has revealed that he was an MPSC aspirant and wanted to talk to senior ministers to ensure that the MPSC examinations are held regularly every year transparently, however, nobody answered his phone calls, and therefore he thought of making a hoax call to the Mumbai police control room,” the police officer added.