School student makes hoax bomb call, let off with warning in Coimbatore

COIMBATORE: Panic gripped Tatabad here on Friday night after a commercial complex owner received a call saying bombs were planted on his shop premises and they would go off at any time.
However, after a frantic search for two hours, bomb detection and disposal squad of the city police realized that was a hoax call. The call was later traced to a 13-year-old boy in Theni district, who apparently wanted to scare his friends by making a hoax bomb call, but misdialed the number. The boy was let off with a stern warning.
A source with the city police said the commercial complex was owned by Mohandhass, 75, of East Power House Road at Tatabad. “On Friday around 10.45pm, he received a call from an unknown mobile number and the caller told him that he had planted two bombs and they would go off soon. The caller immediately disconnected the call.”
Mohandhass alerted the city police and a team of bomb detection and disposal squad was immediately deployed to search the commercial complex. Kattoor (law & order) police inspector T Sivakumar and team also reached the spot. After two hours of thorough search, the team declared there were no bombs and it was a hoax call.
Meanwhile, the city police traced the mobile number to a family at Andipatti in Theni district.
Preliminary inquiry revealed the 13-year-old boy from the family had misdialed the mobile number. “He was planning to make a bomb threat call to his friends. But the call reached Mohandhass and the boy thought it was one of friends and told him that bombs will go off immediately,” the officer said.
Police officers spoke to the family members, who pleaded with them not to take any action against the boy. The officers warned the boy not to make any hoax bomb call. The family members were also warned.