Date:21/11/2002 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2002/11/21/stories/2002112107701100.htm

National

High alert in Parliament after hoax call

By Devesh K. Pandey

A guard taking position as part of a security alert at Parliament House in New Delhi on Wednesday.

NEW DELHI NOV. 20. Security around Parliament was put on ``high alert'' today following a phone call that four heavily armed "terrorists'' in a white Maruti car were planning to wreak havoc in the New Delhi area. Though a car matching the description was intercepted and its occupants rounded up, the call turned out be a hoax.

Shortly before noon a traffic policeman deployed at Laxmi Nagar in East Delhi was told by a nervous motorcyclist that four suspected terrorists were speeding towards Connaught Place in a white Maruti (DL1C F 0434) and that they might attack Parliament. The constable relayed the message and immediately para-military personnel were ordered to take positions around Parliament House where the Lok Sabha was in session. Security vans were stationed at the entrance and armed personnel lay in wait behind sandbags for the "terrorists.''

Even as Parliament security was being reviewed, alert traffic policemen on the Ranjit Singh flyover near Barakhamba Road spotted the suspicious car.

The four occupants were detained, but no explosives or arms were found in the car. Instead several passports and some bank passbooks were recovered. he suspects were whisked away to the Connaught Place police station where they were questioned by a joint team of the Intelligence Bureau and the Special Cell. he four identified as Haji Mohammad Iqbal Qureshi, Chand Qureshi, Mehmood Qureshi and Mohammad Ayub said they ran a travel agency at Meerut and arranged visas and passports for Haj pilgrims. They insisted that they had come to Delhi to get some tickets confirmed. After questioning and verification of their antecedents, they were let off.