1 held for hoax call claiming ‘terror suspect’ was on train

On Monday late afternoon, the Western Railway police control room received a call from an anonymous caller, who claimed that a suspected terrorist was travelling on a train between Vapi and Valsad. The phone was soon switched off.

The Railway police control room shared the information with Valsad Railway RPF, GRP, and the Valsad district police chief.

A search was carried out on the Vapi and Valsad Railway station premises, including the parcel room and the passengers’ waiting room.

Another police team carried out checking in the regular trains travelling from Mumbai to Delhi passing through Valsad and Vapi railway station.

Later in the day, the police obtained the caller’s mobile phone number from the Railway control room and conducted technical surveillance.

A police team traced the father of the suspected caller and, later, through him, reached the suspect.

Valsad police later identified the arrested person as Parmeshwar Dilip Vasaikar (32), a car driver by profession. The accused was travelling from Surat to Thane in the Vadodara Dahanu train on Monday. He was accompanied by a friend and they were going to visit a temple in Kharghar, Mumbai. On the way to Vapi, he had an argument with another passenger who allegedly bullied him. With the intention of teaching him a lesson, Parmeshwar went to the washroom in the train and made the hoax call, police said.

The accused is married and has a 3-year-old daughter. He has been unemployed for the past few months, police said.