MUMBAI: A 36-year-old man was arrested by Mumbai Police after he allegedly made a hoax call about a terror attack at the city’s landmark Taj Hotel, an official said on Friday.
A case was registered by Santacruz police station, officials said.
The call was received by the Mumbai police control room on Thursday in which they were informed that two Pakistani citizens will enter Mumbai through the coastal line and blow up the Taj Hotel.
According to officials, the caller identified himself as Mukesh Singh, following which the Mumbai Crime Branch, Unit 9 initiated an investigation into the case.
Through technical analysis, the accused was identified as one Jagdamba Prasad Singh, hailing from a village in Gonda in Uttar Pradesh and who was living in Santacruz West.
He was later arrested by crime branch and a mobile handset was seized from his possession.
Upon interrogation, the accused confessed to the crime and he was handed over to the Santacruz Police station.
On November 26, 2008 armed terrorists from Pakistan carried out coordinated terror attacks at multiple locations in Mumbai, including at Taj Mahal hotel in the city.
The three-day siege in Mumbai began on November 26 that year, when 10 terrorists from the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) organisation arrived by sea and started firing, killing 166 people, including 18 security officials, and injuring over 300 others. The 10 terrorists travelled from Pakistan’s Karachi to Mumbai across the Arabian Sea by hijacking a Kuber fishing trawler, killing all the crew and then arriving in an inflatable speedboat after killing the captain.
They docked at Mumbai’s waterfront near the Gateway of India, hijacked cars, including a police van, and split into at least three groups to carry out the attacks to maximize damage. Indian security forces killed 9 terrorists and one terrorist Ajmal Kasab who was captured alive was hanged on November 21, 2012.
Earlier this June a woman passenger claimed that she was carrying a bomb in her luggage at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.
The passenger travelling from Mumbai to Kolkata was asked to pay extra for her luggage and she refused and later claimed that she was carrying a bomb in her bag, although nothing suspicious was found in her bag upon scrutiny.
After the incident, a case was registered at Sahar police station against the woman under sections 336 and 505 (2) of IPC and she was arrested. The woman was then produced in the court which later granted her bail. (ANI)