Date:09/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/09/stories/2008110951190300.htm

Karnataka - Hubli-Dharwad

A day of bomb hoaxes in Hubli, Belgaum

Staff Correspondent

According to the police, the calls were made from PCOs

In action: A bomb disposal squad at work in KLE Society’s Polytechnic in Hubli on Saturday.

HUBLI: It was a day of bomb hoaxes in Hubli and Belgaum.

A hoax bomb call created panic in an educational institution in Hubli on Saturday. According to Deputy Commissioner of Police Chandiram Singh, the office of KLE Society’s Polytechnic, which is located on the campus of BVB College of Engineering and Technology, received a phone call about a bomb being planted in the college at 8 a.m. on Saturday.

The caller said that he was calling from Mumbai and that the bomb would explode within a few minutes. The college authorities immediately alerted the police, he said.

A bomb disposal squad along with a sniffer dog, was pressed into service immediately. They conducted a through search but they did not find anything dangerous on the premises. Mr. Singh said that steps were being taken to trace the call.

Because of the call, the diploma semester examinations, for which about 600 students were scheduled to appear, was delayed by an hour.

Principal of the college S.C. Kamate said that the exams, which were scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., commenced at 10 a.m. after the bomb detection squad declared that there was nothing dangerous on the premises.

Saturday’s hoax bomb call was the third such call in a week in the twin cities. J.K. English Medium School in Hubli had received a hoax bomb threat on Tuesday, while the Presentation School in Dharwad received a hoax bomb threat on Friday.

According to the police, the calls were made from PCOs, which made it difficult to trace the culprits.

“Unless all the educational institutions install telephones with caller ID facility it will be difficult to trace the calls quickly,” a senior police officer said.

Belgaum Staff Correspondent reports: The city police received a call on Saturday claiming that bombs had been planted in the old and new court complexes and the Government Polytechnic.

The bomb disposal squad accompanied by a sniffer dog was despatched immediately. After conducting a through search the call was declared to be a hoax.

According to the police, the call was made from a PCO.

Incidentally, the District Legal Services Authority has made arrangements to conduct the Lok Adalat on the court premises on Sunday.

This is the second such call claiming that a bomb was placed in the court.