Taj Mahal briefly shut after hoax bomb call
AGRA: At least 1,000 tourists inside the Taj Mahal complex in Agra were evacuated on Thursday following a hoax bomb call, the police said. The caller was detained in Firozabad and appeared to be mentally disturbed, an official aware of the developments said.
Additional director general (ADG) of police, Agra zone, A Satish Ganesh said the caller, indentified as Vimal Kumar Singh, called the 112 emergency response number of the Uttar Pradesh Police at around 9 am and claimed that a bomb was kept inside the world-famous monument that is conserved by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and protected by armed personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
The UP Police immediately informed the CISF personnel, who asked visitors to vacate the premises of the iconic 17th-century monument and launched anti-sabotage checks around 9:15 am.
Both the eastern and western gates of Taj Mahal were closed after the tourists were moved out. Tourists were told that the complex was being closed because of a VVIP visit to prevent panic. About a 1,000 tourists in Taj Mahal premises were
asked to move out, said Ganesh.
Nothing suspicious was found during at the monument, a CISF officer said in Delhi. The monument was reopened for visitors at 11.15 am, the official said.
An initial probe revealed that Vimal Kumar Singh is a resident of Patiyali in Kasganj and was presently staying in his maternal grandmother’s house in Okhra village in the Narkhi area of Firozabad, the ADG said.
“Prima facie it seems that he (Singh) is mentally unstable and is probably under treatment. We are probing why he made such a call,” Ganesh added.
“The accused has been taken into custody and a case has registered against him under sections 505 (intent to incite) and 507 (criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication) of Indian Penal Code at Loha Mandi police station of Agra,” said Agra superintendent of police (city) Rohan Pramod Botre.