By IANS
Hyderabad : As Hyderabad shut down Monday to protest the horrific terror bombings that killed 42 people two days ago, hoax bomb calls kept people and security agencies on the edge.
Three hoax calls as well as a bomb scare sparked by an unclaimed bag were reported, triggering panic. One such call was made to the Andhra Pradesh state secretariat, the seat of the government.
The entire complex – housing the offices of the chief minister and his cabinet colleagues – was evacuated while the police complete with sniffer dogs conducted a thorough check. But no explosives were found.
The Lumbini Park, a stone’s throw away from the secretariat on the banks of the Hussain Sagar Lake, was one of the sites of the twin blasts Saturday.
The response to the statewide shutdown, called by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in protest against the terror attacks, was almost total in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.
It also affected life throughout Telangana region of northern Andhra Pradesh. But the response was lukewarm in Rayalaseema and the coastal regions of Andhra Pradesh, according to information reaching the state capital.
State-run buses did not play in parts of the state while private educational institutions declared a holiday. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) extended support to the strike.
BJP workers gathered in different parts of Hyderabad and other cities and towns, especially in Telangana, to enforce the shutdown. They did not allow buses to come out of depots and staged noisy demonstrations.
As the shutdown got underway, the office of the director of medical and health services at Koti area of the city received a bomb threat. The office is located near Gokul Chat, an eatery where a powerful bomb killed 32 people Saturday.
Paradise Hotel, a popular food joint in Hyderabad’s twin city Secunderabad, also received a bomb threat. It too turned out to be a hoax.
An unclaimed suitcase near the Global Hospital in the busy Lakdi Ka Pul area created a scare. People in the vicinity heaved a sigh of relief when the bomb disposal squad declared after a thorough check that it was a harmless object.
Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy appealed to people not to believe in rumours and cooperate with the police.
After the May 18 blast at the historic Mecca Masjid, which had claimed nine lives, the city had received dozens of such calls.
Two days before Saturday’s blasts, a few institutions here had received bomb threats. Police were probing if those calls were part of a diversionary tactic.
Meanwhile, several cinema theatres were forced to cancel their shows for the second consecutive day as police said they would not allow theatres without metal detector facilities to run the shows.
Only five to seven out of about 100 theatres in the city have metal detectors to check visitors.
Police have also directed shopping complexes to immediately install metal detectors to screen visitors. Officials said this was necessary to prevent another tragedy.
This IT hub is still trying to recover from the shock of the worst ever terror attack in the southern state.
But refusing to bow down to terrorism, a large number of citizens took part in a candle light demonstration at Lumbini Park Sunday night.
Prominent personalities including actors Jayasudha, Vishnuvardhan, MP Madhu Yakshi Goud and state Congress president K. Keshava Rao took part. Some of them raised slogans against Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).
Meanwhile, police have picked up 10 people from different parts of the city and the outskirts for questioning. They include three suspects who reportedly provided iron balls for making the bombs.
In Nagpur in neighbouring Maharashtra, Sohail, owner of Amin Explosives, was taken into custody for questioning.
Police said the Neogel 90 used in the unexploded bomb recovered from a cinema theatre after the blasts was made by his company.
Police suspect the involvement of the Bangladesh-based Harkat ul Jihadi Islami (HuJI) in the terror bombings.