City caller's terror threat jolts Jamshedpur cops

NAGPUR: Two calls from Nagpur , made within a span of five minutes on Tuesday afternoon , warning of terror strikes in crowded localities of Jamsh
edpur sent police forces of both cities on a wild goose chase. The calls were made to superintendent of police, Jamshedpur, Naveen Kumar Singh on his cellphone and warned of blasts in Durga Puja pandals.

The calls, that rattled the city police as well, were traced to a STD booth opposite NIT garden at Trimurti Nagar. The caller was in his mid-twenties , having sharp features. The STD booth attendant helped a police team in preparing sketch of the suspect. The caller, apart from threatening Singh, had also said that his team had already reached Jamshedpur and would execute the bombings near pandals on Wednesday. Huge crowds were expected at the Durga Puja pandals on Tuesday, it being the last day (Navami) before Dussehra.

Sources said that it was around 40 minutes past noon on Tuesday that Singh got the first call. It did not last beyond some seconds and ended without any conversation . The caller called the second time from the same number about five minutes later and passed on the 'information' .

"It seems to be a mischief call. The first call was only like a missed call but the second one lasted a little longer. Couple of sentences were spoken to me. The caller talked about blasts but nothing has happened so far," Singh told TOI from Jamshedpur over telephone. "I cannot divulge whom I have contacted in Nagpur or Maharashtra because those are internal details," said Singh.

Sources claimed that city police and intelligence agencies have conducted a thorough enquiry into the incident but none was ready to reveal anything. City police chief Praveen Dixit, deputy commissioner of police Suresh Mekala of Zone-I and senior inspector of police M R Swai of Rana Pratap Nagar police station did not offer any further information. "None contacted me about it. I came to know only through media," said Dixit.

The calls, probably intended to create panic in Jamshedpur, set the city police and intelligence security machineries into motion with random checking of the vehicles and suspected persons launched in city. City police sleuths, on the eve of Dhammachakra Pravartan Din and Dussehra celebrations on Thursday, are learnt to have fanned out and would remain camped at places where strangers are likely to throng.

Recently, central intelligence authorities had intercepted a telephonic conversation in Ahmedabad where it was mentioned that there could be blasts in the city during Dussehra festival.
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