Ajmer Dargah evacuated after hoax bomb call

After the call was received at the Ajmer police control room, SP Vikas Kumar along with bomb disposal squad reached the spot and vacated the Dargah.

Ajmer Dargah was evacuated Monday morning after police received a phone call saying a bomb had been placed in the 12th-century shrine. The call later turned out to be a hoax.

“Around 6.30 am, the Ajmer police control room received a call from a mobile phone. The caller said that a bomb had been placed in the dargah premises,” Ajmer Dargah Station House Officer Bhupandra Singh said. “There were about 20,000 people inside the dargah and about the same number outside the shrine. But by 7 am, the shrine was vacated and a search operation was undertaken for the next two hours,” he said.

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Officials said apart from the local police, the Quick Response Team, the Anti-Terrorism Squad, Intelligence Bureau and other agencies arrived at the spot soon after the call was placed.

However, Ajmer Superintendent of Police Vikas Kumar said that no suspicious object was found on the premises during the search operation. “We were concerned, as many tourists had arrived for the monthly ritual of ‘Chatti Sharif’. Usually, more than 50,000 people visit the dargah during Chatti Sharif.”

“We searched the entire area and frisked the people but found no suspicious object and concluded that the call was hoax,” Kumar said, adding that by 9.30 am, devotees were allowed to re-enter the premises.

“Investigations are on to locate the caller,” the SP said.

In October 2007, a blast outside the shrine had killed three persons and injured 17.

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