Bomb hoax: Former security guard arrested

A native of Tupshelgaon in Nanded,Pethe had called Sambhaji Gaikwad,the IBM security supervisor,on his cellphone around 3.30 pm,saying there was a bomb in one of the buildings,police said.

On getting the information,Hinjewadi police led by senior inspector Ganpatrao Madgulkar rushed to the IT Park and evacuated about 12,000 employees of the four companies running from six buildings. Police,along with the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS),searched the premises. After the five-hour operation,they realised it was a hoax. A police complaint was lodged under relevant sections of the Information Technology (IT) Act and the Indian Penal Code.

Police traced the SIM card to Priti Kumari Devrai of Lohegaon. Priti reportedly told the police that she had given the SIM card to a friend,Antima Jain.

Jain had lost her cellphone in Sadashiv Peth area last October,police said.

Further investigation revealed that the call was made from a cellphone in Nanded. A police team of assistant inspector Dhananjay Jagdale,havaldar Hanif Shaikh,Naik Raju Kedari,Dhanraj Kirnale and Rajendra Shete reached Nanded and nabbed Pethe. Police recovered the cellphone and the SIM card allegedly used to make the call. Police said Pethe had broken the SIM card after making the call.

Police said that during interrogation,Pethe said he worked at IBM as a security guard for a few days,but left the job due to medical problems. “Being a former security guard,Pethe had number of security supervisor Gaikwad. Pethe admitted that he had made the hoax call. The motive and how he had procured the SIM card is being probed,” said senior inspector Madgulkar.

In March last year,Hinjewadi police had arrested a history-sheeter,Kiran Vinayak Gaikwad (23),for allegedly making a hoax call about a bomb threat to an IT company in Hinjewadi IT park. Gaikwad,who ran a laundry,was earlier sacked from the security department of the company after three days. He had allegedly made the call to avenge his humiliation.