By IANS,
Kolkata : Two hoax bomb calls, including in the office of a leading vernacular daily, led to panic Thursday as security was beefed up in the city after the terror attack in Mumbai Wednesday night.
The office of the city’s largest circulated vernacular newspaper Anandabazar Patrika received a call Thursday afternoon alerting about a possible blast inside the building.
“An anonymous call came to Anandabazar Patrika’s office reception (central Kolkata) around 3 p.m. The caller said there was a bomb planted inside the building. But after a thorough search with sniffer dogs, neither the police nor bomb squad personnel could find anything suspicious,” said a police official.
In the morning, the Indian Oil Bhavan in south Kolkata received a hoax bomb call, a company spokesperson said.
“Around 11.30 a.m. someone called up a senior official of Indian Oil Bhavan and said a bomb has been kept at the nine-storeyed building at Dhakuria (in south Kolkata),” the company’s corporate communication manager Alok Kumar Singh told reporters.
“Panic-stricken, the officer called up senior authorities and they informed the police. Police officials along with personnel from the bomb disposal squad and sniffer dogs reached the spot immediately. But after searching for about four hours, they did not find any bomb,” Singh said.
The employees of the company vacated the place immediately but were reluctant to enter the office even after being told there is no danger.
Singh said the phone call was made from a local public telephone booth.
The terror attack in Mumbai left at least 101 people dead and more than 250 injured.