Calls of ‘suspicious’ bags from across city keep police on toes

At a time when the city is on high alert following the Hyderabad blasts, information about a bag containing a "bomb" had the Delhi Police and Army personnel pressing into service their bomb detection and disposal procedure on Monday.

The fact that a sniffer dog, brought to Army Base Hospital in Delhi Cantonment to check the bag, identified one of objects inside the bag as RDX, triggered panic.

The object later turned out to be a bar of soap, which was packed in the bag with a brick, a towel and a woman's purse.

The call to the security agencies was made after a 69-year-old man informed the Army personnel that two youths handed him the bag at a traffic signal near the hospital. Delhi Police declared the call as a "hoax" after completing all the checks.

Delhi Police PRO Rajan Bhagat said: "The call was a hoax. The bag contained a towel, a purse, a brick and a soap. No case has been registered."

Police also received similar calls from other parts of the city, informing about "bombs". The calls were later declared as hoax. The calls informed of "bombs" in Greater Kailash-I, Mangolpuri and a DTC bus.

The first call, which came from the Army unit at 2.30 pm, informed about a suspicious laptop bag that was found on the footpath outside the hostel complex of Army College of Medical Sciences, adjacent to the Army Base Hospital.

Police identified the man who informed the Army about the laptop bag as Om Prakash Makkar, a civil contractor. He told police that he was headed towards Dwarka Expressway in his Toyota Corolla car with a driver. When they stopped at the traffic signal, two men on a moped pulled up next to him. Makkar said his window was open and the pillion rider spoke to him.

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