Bomb scare at Red Fort, India Gate, IT Office turns out a hoax

New Delhi, July 24 (UNI) Continuing the fortnight-old string of hoax calls in the Capital, at least two persons -- one of them a ten-year-old -- kept the Delhi Police rattled throughout today sending them on wildgoose chases to the India Gate, Red Fort and the Income Tax Building.

All the calls -- made within a span of one-and-a-half hour -- about bombs having been planted at the three places turned out to be hoaxes but kept the police on tenterhooks for more than four hours.

While a ten-year-old was questioned at his Rama Krishna Puram residence, from where he telephoned about the India Gate hoax, the other person -- a 22-year-old broker at the Sales Tax Office -- was arrested for calling the police on the Red Fort alert later.

The caller of the third hoax call was yet to be traced.

Earlier in the day, even as the first call at 1202 hrs of a bomb been kept at India Gate was being monitored and security forces being rushed to sanitise the VIP area, there was another call of explosives planted at the Red Fort at 1226 hrs.

Soon after, at 1335 hrs, a third call saying a bomb had been placed at the Income Tax Building at ITO was received, according to the police.

At India Gate, two fire tenders accompanied the Bomb Disposal Squad and the Dog Squad.

Police got the entire circumference close to the Amar Jawan Jyoti vacated of people after cordoning the 'outer circle' before beginning the search operations.

The call was declared a 'hoax' at 1240 hrs after nothing was found after about 40 minutes of search, said police sources.

Soon after the second call about Red Fort, police cordoned off the entire area, the place was vacated and shopkeepers and the bomb and dog squad pressed into service.

After more than two-and-a-half hours of search, nothing was found at the 17th century monument near Chandni Chowk in Central Delhi and the call declared a hoax at 1450 hrs.

Search at the ITO Building was also completed in about two hours.

UNI AN PA RK2050