High alert after hoax call sparks bomb scare on Trivandrum Express
An anti-sabotage team, including the dog squad carried out a thorough check on the train, says GRP official.
Chennai: A call to the GRP helpline on Friday afternoon about a bomb on a train carrying Sabarimala pilgrims created a flutter and led to a high alert being announced on trains to Kerala.
According to police sources, at about 3.35 pm, the GRP helpline received a call from a woman, who identified herself as Srimathi, claiming that an associate of a terrorist was aboard a train to Sabarimala with a bomb.
“The Chennai Central– Trivandrum Express had just left Chennai when a call to 1512 informed us of a bomb on a Sabarimala train. The train was stopped at the next station, Katpadi, at 5.30 pm and an anti-sabotage team, including the dog squad carried out a thorough check on the train,” said a GRP official.
After a thorough checking of the train, it left Katpadi after 6.20 pm.RPF, local police and GRP have been working together to track the caller, who has been traced to a PCO near the railway station at Tiruvottriyur.
“We are checking the video footages near the railway station to know who the woman was,” said an RPF official.
After the call, all trains towards Trivandrum, the Trivandrum Mail, Alleppey Express, and a special train have been put on high alert with more RPF and police escorts aboard.