The All India Institute of Medical Sciences witnessed some anxious moments on Wednesday when bomb disposal squads scoured through its sprawling campus in New Delhi following an anonymous phone call about explosives being planted in the institute.
The call was declared hoax after a nearly three-hour search of the premises by police and security personnel of the institute. The origin of the call and whereabouts of the caller are yet to be traced.
The police received the call at 11:20 am, the latest one in a series of hoax bomb threats in New Delhi since the terror attacks in Mumbai last Tuesday, after which they launched the search operation, police sources said, adding that bomb disposal squads and fire brigade personnel searched the entire campus, including emergency wings, wards and departments.
However, the hospital was not evacuated during the operation. Fire tenders and ambulances were kept on stand-by and entry of vehicles into the campus was regulated during the search, which was called off shortly after 3 pm.
A series of hoax bomb threats and an email threatening to carry out attacks in New Delhi had triggered massive search operations at India Gate, Red Fort, Akshardham Temple and Gurdwara Sis Ganj over the weekend. Police has also arrested a youth from North-East Delhi for making hoax phone calls claiming that explosives were planted at Akshardham Temple, Gurdwara Sis Ganj and India Gate.
Meanwhile, hoaxers kept the Mumbai police on its toes as well. The police searched two schools, one in the city and another in Thane district, after it was reported that bombs had been planted in them. But these turned out to be hoax.
The principal of St Joseph School in suburban Juhu received an anonymous call that a bomb had been planted in the premises. He immediately alerted the police, who swung into action with a bomb squad. However the search yielded no result, officials said. In another incident, an unclaimed baggage was found in the premises of St Xavier's School at Mira Road in Thane. The bomb squad took away the bag but nothing was found in it, police said.
