UP man held for threatening to blow up Andheri, Kurla; asking cops for ₹2L

A man was arrested for sending hoax bomb threat messages to the Mumbai police control room via WhatsApp, asking for ?2 lakh to avert the attacks.

MUMBAI: A 22-year-old man was arrested on Thursday for allegedly sending hoax messages on the WhatsApp number of Mumbai police control room, stating that he was going to blow up Andheri, Kurla and even Pune areas. He also sent his Quick Response (QR) code to the police control room, asking them to send ₹2 lakh to avert the attack.

Boy make emergecy call for bombing illustration

A joint team of the Mumbai crime branch and the Amboli police traced and arrested Darvesh Sharda Rajbhar aka Rahul, 22, from Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur.

According to the police, the WhatsApp number of the Mumbai police got messages from an unknown number on Thursday morning that there will be blasts on Saturday evening in Kurla and Andheri areas.

“The sender of the messages also sent a QR code to the WhatsApp number, asking to pay ₹2 lakh. He told the police that tomorrow there will be a blast in Pune and he received ₹2 crore for the same. He told the policemen on duty that, if they paid him ₹2 lakh he and his team would leave for Malaysia without harming anyone,” said a police officer.

“Through technical details, we traced the accused to Uttar Pradesh. He had earlier worked in Mumbai, Thane and was working in Ambernath till recently. He had gone to his native place just a week ago,” said the police officer. He thought of making easy money by threatening to cause bomb blasts in the city, the officer added.