Thane carpenter held for making hoax bomb threat to police in March

The city crime branch sleuths on Saturday arrested a 32-year old Thane resident for allegedly making a hoax terror threat call to the police control room in March this year. The police sources said that suspect made the phone call just to see/gauge police preparedness and create panic.

The arrested person has been identified as Ashishkumar Vishwakarma alias Rinku, a carpenter by profession and resident of Vangaon in Thane district.

On March 24, the main control room of Mumbai police had received a hoax call from a mobile number. "The caller had claimed to carry out a bomb blast. We then got SIM card and call detail records of the mobile number," said an officer from the Unit 1 of crime branch.

Vishwakarma was apprehended by a police team near Adarsh Vidyalaya in Goregaon (West) on Saturday. "Vishwakarma is a native of Fatehpur district in Uttar Pradesh. During interrogation he admitted to having made the phone call with the intention of creating panic and check how prepared the police were. We have seized his mobile phone," the officer said.

The crime branch registered a case against Vishwakarma at Azad Maidan police station under sections 505 (2) (causing mischief), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 507 (criminal intimidation by anonymous communication) of the Indian Penal Code. Vishwakarma is presently under the custody of Azad Maidan police.