Bomb on campus? Remark sparks panic among parents

A late night altercation between a security guard of Podar World School and a passerby on Monday led to a major panic among the parents of students of all five Podar schools in the vicinity.

A late night altercation between a security guard of Podar World School IB and a passerby on Monday led to a major panic among the parents of students of all five Podar schools in the vicinity. The security guard was asleep on duty at 3 am on Monday when a man driving by asked him what he was doing there. When told he was a security guard, the man became irate and and asked him, 8220;What if someone drops a bomb here?8221; He then drove off.

The security guard informed the school authorities of the incident. Recognizing the possibility of a threat, the school authorities alerted the officers of Santacruz police station who rushed to the spot along with a bomb disposal squad and declared the threat to be a hoax.

8220;We got a complaint at 8 am by the school authorities and came here with a bomb squad. We searched the school premises for any signs of blasts,8221; said API S Chauhan of Santacruz police station. 8220;The security guard told us that the man who fought with him was in a black Maruti Swift but he hadn8217;t seen the number. Had he done so we would nabbed him and saved a lot of time and panic,8221; he added.

Soon after the incident, TV channels reported a bomb threat been received by Podar School. Panic-stricken parents flocked to the school to get their wards out. Stressed teachers attempted to calm parents while trying to make students exit in an orderly fashion. The panic in the air was palpable as teachers were informed that students would only be allowed to leave with their mothers or fathers and no relatives were allowed. 8220;This panic is media8217;s fault as the threat was in the IB school and not ours,8221; said a member of the staff at Podar ICSE school. A visibly scared mother said, 8220;We are not panicking. We are just worried that our children will be scared.8221;

A similar incident also shook Shardashram School in Dadar where a hoax caller led the Dadar police and a BDS squad to the site to verify it. 8220;The hoax call was made to police control and has been traced to a Public booth in Dadar,8221; said Senior Police Inspector M Sankhe of Dadar Police station.