Date:12/09/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/09/12/stories/2006091219930300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Bomb hoax at two banks in the city

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: Two banks in the city on Monday received anonymous telephone calls that bombs were planted on their premises. However, both the calls turned out to be hoax.

Police said that around 12.45 p.m., a person called the State Bank of Mysore's head office on Kempegowda Road and reportedly said that a bomb had been placed in the parking lot of the multi-storeyed building.

The Upparpet police, along with staff of Bomb Detection Squad and sniffer dog squad, rushed to the spot and searched the area.

They did not find any explosive.

In the other incident, the staff at the Centurion Bank's Indiranagar branch received a phone call around 10.30 a.m. that a bomb has been placed at the bank's Cambridge Road branch in Ulsoor police station limits. The call turned out to be a hoax, the police said.

Second incident

This is the second instance in the past one week that Centurion Bank's Cambridge Road branch has received a bomb hoax call.

Appeal

Commissioner of Police Neelam Achuta Rao on Monday appealed to the public to install caller identification devices to the telephones at their houses, offices, and business establishments, as there had been an increase in the number of bomb hoax calls.

The public, who receive anonymous calls, could immediately seek the help of police by dialling 100, 2294222, 22250999 or 22943322, Mr. Achuta Rao said in a press release here on Monday.