'We found the dummy bomb while playing'

Locals said that panic prevailed around the spot after the news spread that a bomb had been found. Anwar Khan, an 18-year-old student, said, "The police had cordoned off the area, but 2,000 - 2,500 had gathered.

Locals said that panic prevailed around the spot after the news spread that a bomb had been found. Anwar Khan, an 18-year-old student, said, "The police had cordoned off the area, but 2,000 - 2,500 had gathered. The police closed access to the road in both the directions for two hours, still, there were people all around - scared and curious."

HT Image

Four youths playing in the rain had found the dummy bomb. They were playing football outside the Dhiraj Gaurav building at Adarsh Nagar in Lokhandwala, when they stumbled upon what looked like a bomb next to a dustbin near Infiniti mall.

"It was raining heavily. Three of my friends and I decided to play football. One of us hit the ball towards the dustbin. When my friend went to fetch it, he saw the object lying next to the bin," said Rizwan Ahmed, 22, a student staying in the area.

One of the boys called his 50-year-old uncle, Iqbal Ansari, a driver. "I phoned the police control room and a mobile police van arrived within five minutes. We later learnt that the bomb was inside the bin and when the BMC garbage truck arrived at around 11 am, the employees took the bomb out of the bin and kept it outside to collect it later."