PG medico allegedly makes hoax bomb threat calls to college to avoid seminar presentation, arrested

Mangaluru: Mangaluru police have arrested a postgraduate medical student for making a fake bomb threat call to a private hospital. It has been reported that to avoid giving a seminar presentation, a postgraduate medical student from Kanachur Institute of Medical Sciences, Deralakatte, allegedly made hoax bomb threat calls to her own college on that day. This landed her in police custody after being arrested on charges of breaching public peace.

According to the police, the accused requested her friend to make a threatening phone call to her medical college claiming that a bomb had been planted on campus. The accused  moments later presented herself as the victim saying that she too received a bomb threat from an individual multiple times.

Based on her information, the college authorities informed the police and the authorities launched an extensive search operation involving 25–30 police personnel, the bomb disposal squad, and a dog squad. The hospital building, parking area, and surroundings were combed for nearly 10 hours. No explosives or suspicious items were found.

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The incident took place on June 4 at around 8.45 in the morning when the medical college received a call from an unknown person who claimed that a bomb had been planted in the hospital and the entire premises must be vacated by 11 am. In total, five such calls were made, sparking panic among patients, hospital staff, and doctors.

When no bomb was recovered from the campus, the police launched an investigation to identify the person behind the hoax bomb threat phone call. The investigation revealed that a girl pursuing postgraduate studies in medicine at the medical college preplanned the hoax call on June 4 to trigger a scare so that she could avoid making a presentation at a seminar scheduled on that day.

According to police sources, she was scheduled to present a seminar that morning as part of her academic requirements. To avoid the presentation, she devised an elaborate plan to shut down the college through a fake bomb threat.

A police officer told Indian Express, "She contacted a friend working at an IT company in Hyderabad, asking him to call the medical college hospital’s landline number with a threatening message. The unsuspecting friend, unaware of the implications, made the call as requested."

To mislead the authorities, she herself filed a complaint regarding the threat. Based on technical data analysis, police later identified the complainant as the hoax caller.

Following this, the police registered a case under Sections 352(2) and 352(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023 and arrested the student on June 7 and seized her mobile phone. 

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