After receiving threats of bombs being planted on trains heading to Mumbai from Visakhapatnam on Wednesday, April 13, the railway police conducted checks on trains. However, no explosives were found on two trains after they were thoroughly checked by police forces at two places in Telangana. The railway police went on alert after an anonymous phone call was received on the 100 police emergency service number that bombs have been planted on trains heading towards Mumbai from Visakhapatnam.
The Visakhapatnam-Lokmanya Tilak Terminus train was stopped at Kazipet in Warangal. Railway police along with local police checked the train with the help of bomb disposal squads but found no explosives. The Bhubaneswar-Mumbai Konark Express was also stopped at Cherlapally on the outskirts of Hyderabad. Police forces carried out thorough checks in the compartments but found no bomb.
Officials said the phone call proved a hoax and they were trying to identify and trace the caller. The bomb threat triggered panic among passengers of both the trains and caused them inconvenience. The trains had to be stopped for more than two hours for checking.
Earlier on April 8, around eight schools in Bengaluru received bomb threat emails, which the Bengaluru police later said appeared to have been a hoax. Seven to eight schools in east Bengaluru were evacuated and searched after they received threat emails warning of a “very powerful bomb” on the school premises. A Subramanyeswara Rao, Additional Commissioner of Police of Bengaluru East Zone told the media that no explosives were found during their searches of the schools.
The email that was sent to the schools said that a bomb had been planted in the school and that it was “not a joke.” Many other schools in Bengaluru that did not receive the email also sent students home as a precautionary measure.