E-Paper
Bomb scare at Delhi's cinema hall a hoax
Bomb disposal squads and sniffer dogs rushed to Satyam theatre complex in Patel Nagar to conduct a search after police received the call at 12.30 pm.
A packed multiplex in West Delhi was on Sunday evacuated and scoured by bomb disposal squads after police received a phone call about explosives planted at the complex that later turned out to be hoax.
The alert was declared a hoax after a 90-minute search and two persons, including a teenager, were arrested for making the false call.
Police emptied the Satyam theatre complex in Patel Nagar at around 12.30 pm, reviving bitter memories of the May 22 blasts last year at the multiplex which had injured several people.
The complex, which showing the just-released Hindi movie Corporate, was cleared off in an orderly fashion without much panic, senior police officials said.
However, the search by bomb disposal squads and sniffer dogs proved futile and the call was declared a hoax, Deputy Commissioner of Police Robin Hibu (West Delhi) said.
He said the call was traced to a Public Call Office in nearby Ranjit Nagar and two persons working there were arrested.
Jitender (24) and Naeem (14) told police that they were checking a faulty phone by dialing the Police Control Room number and reported about the bomb just for fun.
This is the second incident of a bomb scare at a cinema hall in the Capital after the serial blasts in Mumbai.
A string of false phone calls, most of them pranks by adolescents, had rattled Delhi Police since the blasts in the western metropolis and sparked searches at the India Gate, AIIMS, Akshardham Temple, PVR Plaza and Gurdwara Sis Ganj.
