Who started rumour about blast II?

It played out like a third-rate farce from a third-rate film, when a rumour that was reported as a veritable fact by certain television channels spread like rapidfire on Wednesday. This one was about a ‘second bomb blast’ that, channels claimed, had occurred at Sahakaranagar in Hebbal.

When members of the press rushed to the spot, they obviously found nothing at all.

The genesis of the rumour had its origin either in erroneous reporting by certain television channels that starting broadcasting about the ‘blast’ at around 1pm or posts on social networking site Twitter that surfaced around the same time. But before facts could be checked and verified, the ‘news’ about the ‘blast’ had already started doing the rounds among the public.

The police too arrived at the sport along with a dog squad to make sure that the site was clean.

TR Suresh, DCP North East Bangalore, who was also present at the scene, admonished the gathered journalists. “Everything is normal here and things are calm. I don’t know how the rumours began or spread, but I would say it was because of the media itself,” he remarked.

The scene also attracted a number of curious onlookers who flocked to the spot to see things for themselves. One of the onlookers said,

“I work at a nearby building, and didn’t hear anything. But then I saw on the news that there was reportedly a bomb blast here too, I came to see the situation. I wanted to make sure it was safe for me to stay at work. But now I know there is nothing here; so I can go back to work. I am not worried.”

Traffic was not affected by the rumour. In a matter of minutes, both the crowd and the reporters had been dispersed by the police.