25-year-old arrested for hoax call about bomb blast in train

Officers from the Juhu police station said that the Control Room had received a phone call at 5.33 am on Sunday. The caller informed the officials that a bomb was going to be set off in a train. When asked as to which route the concerned train would take, the caller said that it is the one that travels across Kurla, Thane, Kalyan and the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus

A 25-year-old man was arrested within six hours of his alleged hoax call to the Mumbai police control room, claiming that a bomb blast would take place in a train in the city.

Officers from the Juhu police station said that the Control Room had received a phone call at 5.33 am on Sunday. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The Juhu police identified the accused as Ashok Shankar Mukhiya, a resident of Vile Parle. He works as a domestic help.

The accused told the police that he had dialled the Mumbai Police Control Room’s number on the direction of his friend, the police said.

Officers from the Juhu police station said that the Control Room had received a phone call at 5.33 am on Sunday. The caller informed the officials that a bomb was going to be set off in a train. When asked as to which route the concerned train would take, the caller said that it is the one that travels across Kurla, Thane, Kalyan and the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus. The police were able to trace the location of the caller to Mora Gaon in Juhu.

Based on this information, the Juhu police registered a case against the accused sections under sections 505 (1) (b) (with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public), 506 (2) (criminal intimidation) and 507 (criminal intimidation by anonymous communication) of the Indian Penal Code.

A police team from Juhu reached the spot and scanned the Juhu beach but they could not find the caller.Police officials said they later got Mukhiya’s location which showed him at Nehru Nagar slums in Vile Parle West. The police team reached there and arrested Mukhiya.

We have arrested Mukhiya, who confessed to making the call, and we also seized the mobile phone through which the call was made,” said Raghunath Kadam, senior police inspector of Juhu police station. The police are trying to find out whether the call was a mischief or if there was someone who was travelling on the specific train and was Mukhiya’s target.