Before PM visit, bomb hoax call by taxi driver creates panic in BKC

Mumbai: A day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the city on Saturday, a phone call about a bomb being planted in a parking lot of MMRDA building in the E-block of Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) panicked the authorities. After investigation, it turned out that a 30-year-old taxi driver Binesh Mayaram Yadav had made the bomb hoax call to police. He was arrested within an hour from the building premises on Friday and produced before the court on Saturday. PM Modi arrived at the Jio World Centre at G-block, BKC on Saturday to inaugurate the 141st International Olympic Committee (IOC) session.

The bomb threat created panic in the entire area on Friday evening as the corporate employees were leaving for home, including MMRDA commissioner Sanjay Mukherjee. A call was received on the building’s broadband at the time, alerting the recipient that there was a bomb in a car parked in the building and that they should vacate the building at the soonest.

“The workers in the building started running out of there in panic. When some of the security personnel decided to go towards the parking lot, they met Yadav who told them he saw a boy plant a time bomb in one of the cars. One of the security guards then informed the police control room,” said an officer from the BKC police.

The police immediately arrived at the spot along with the bomb disposal squad. They vacated the building but asked Yadav to stay back in order to track the person who placed the bomb in the car. The team screened the entire premises, other than the parking lot, but did not find any bomb or explosive in it.

“We then got the driver who said he had seen the bomb being planted at the police station for questioning. He later admitted that he had given us false information. In fact, he was the one who made the call as well,” said the officer. Based on his confession, the police booked Yadav under sections 505 (1) (B) (making a statement with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

He was produced in court on Saturday and is currently in police custody. An officer said that Yadav’s family and his lawyer told the court he was going through some mental trauma in his personal life due to which he acted out.

The number of such hoax calls in the city has been on the rise for the last few months. From prank calls to drunken mistakes to frustrated people taking the wrong decisions, they have all been behind these calls.