UP police receives ‘hoax’ threat message about bombs at Vapi textile units, 1 arrested

Police subsequently arrested one Harsh Tiwari (20), a resident of Balitha village and a native of Uttar Pradesh, for sending the WhatsApp message to the police control room.

Sharing more details about the case, Valsad SP Dr Karanraj Vaghela said, “The Uttar Pradesh police control room received a message from an anonymous person about bombs, which were allegedly planted in different units of Alok Industries in Balitha village in Vapi, on Monday. The police informed their Gujarat counterparts. There were around 4,000 workers in the units who were evacuated. We, along with the dog squad and a bomb disposal squad, carried out searches, but nothing was discovered.”

He also said, “Based on technical surveillance, our team picked up one Dhananjay Kushwaha (25), a resident of Balitha village and a native of Bihar. During interrogation, he disclosed the name of his friend and co-employee Harsh Tiwari. On March 26, Kushwaha left his house, and reached Tiwari’s, and offered him Rs 200 for a two-day halt there. Tiwari, however, demanded Rs 600 that led to an oral altercation between the two. Tiwari knew that Kushwaha used two SIM cards. He downloaded WhatsApp Business on his own mobile phone, inserted one of the SIM cards of Kushwaha. After obtaining the required confirmation PIN from Kushwaha, Tiwari successfully registered using the former’s SIM card. He then sent a message about bombs planted at Alok Industries units to the UP police control room.”

“Tiwari, who felt insulted during the altercation with Kushwaha, wanted to take a revenge. After sending the message, he deleted the newly created Whatsapp Business account from his phone. We reactivated the account on Tiwari’s mobile phone and retrieved the message. We are digging out more information from Tiwari,” Vaghela added.