Teen makes hoax call, caught, let off

A 17-year-old school dropout from Kandivli was questioned by the railway police in connection with a bomb hoax call.

He allegedly made a call to the Mumbai police control room on June 6 saying that a bomb was planted at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST).

The boy (his name has been withheld because he is a minor) was allowed to go home after the railway police recorded his statement on Tuesday. The railway police will now file a charge sheet and present it to the Juvenile Justice Court for further action.

“We have recorded his statement in the presence of his parents. The teenager said that he misled the police for fun and had drawn inspiration from Hindi movies,” said an officer from the CST railway police.

On June 6, around 4.45pm, the police control room received a call that there would be a blast at CST. The caller, who was speaking in Hindi, identified himself as Santosh.

The railway police, Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad personnel and three sniffer dogs searched the premises for two hours, but found no explosives.

The railway police traced the call to the SIM card bought in the name of Malad resident MS Yadav. When the railway police questioned Yadav, who is employed at a diamond cutting factory, he told them that he had lost his SIM card three months ago. After investigation, the railway police then traced the SIM card to the teenager.