CST hoax caller just wanted to have 'fun'

Hard-pressed to fulfil his promise of gifting a mobile phone to his wife on New Year’s Eve, a man stole a high-end handset from a city hospital. She would have never known, but for the man’s using the phone to call the railway control room and threatening to blow up the CST railway station and five other installations.

After ascertaining the call was a hoax, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, with the help of its technical wing, traced the caller to Mumbra in Thane. The caller, identified as Shakeel Mohammed Memon, 42, a shop owner, was arrested on Friday.

“I did it just for fun,” he told the police. Prima facie, the police have ruled out the possibility of Memon having links to terror organisations. He was produced in the court, which remanded him to police custody till January 13.

During investigation, the ATS found out that Memon had flicked the cell phone from Bombay Hospital, where his mother had been admitted for cardiac treatment. “A patient’s relative had left the phone unattended to charge,” said a senior ATS official, requesting anonymity.

The owner the phone was found to be a Jacob Circle resident, Syed Iftikar. Investigations revealed that Memon had made similar calls in the past.