Bomb Threat at Praja Bhavan is a Hoax: Police

Hyderabad: A threat call to the Dial 100 service stating that a bomb would explode at the Praja Bhavan, the official residence of Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka here on Tuesday, turned out to be a hoax, police said after an intensive sarch of the promises.

The Praja Bhavan is also the venue for Praja Vani, a Congress government’s grievance redressal meeting held twice a week.

The City Civil Court at Nampally too received a bomb threat. A call was made to the police control centre stating the court would be blown up. Bomb squads and police officials surrounded the court premises and searched the area, but did not find any bomb and confirmed the call a fake threat.

At the Praja Bhavan, police searched the premises and the surrounding areas for four hours with the help of mine detectors, bomb disposal squad and Disaster Response Force (DRF) personnel as well as with the canine force but found nothing suspicious.

The police, who started investigations, are trying to trace the phone call made to the control centre. It was suspected that the call was placed from Hyderabad.

Minister D. Anasuya ‘Seethakka’, visited Praja Bhavan, and met with the officials and also the family members of the Deputy CM Bhatti. The minister instructed the officials to thoroughly check visitors and to step up security at Praja Bhavan, an official statement said.

The bomb threat amid similar scares across the country on Tuesday. The Delhi airport received a bomb threat on a Delhi-Varanasi flight early on Tuesday. In Mumbai, a person threatened to blow up the Taj Hotel and the Mumbai airport claiming bombs are planted at these places. All of them turned out to be hoaxes.