Bangalore: Bomb threat to Wipro campus; security beefed up

Bangalore, Jul 19 (IANS): Security has been beefed up in the campus of global software major Wipro Ltd here, following a bomb threat Friday through a letter to the local police from an unidentified source.

"On receipt of the letter, we have stepped up security in and around the campus and intensified patrolling by deploying additional force and frisking everyone to prevent any untoward incident," a police official told IANS here.

Though the letter, written by hand in English, was received earlier in the day by the Sarjapur police station without the sender's name or address, police have taken the threat seriously, as it had mentioned that "19 bombs have been planted in and around Wipro campus and will go off between Friday 11 p.m. and Saturday 1 p.m."

"We are not taking any chance though the letter may be hoax, as there is no mention of who wrote, from where and why. As the postal mark from where it was sent is not clear, we have asked the postal department to verify its origin of destination," Police Inspector B. Rama Murthy said.

The IT bellwether's corporate headquarters and training centre are located in the campus, about 20km southeast of city, while its software development centre is in the electronics city, about 30km southwest of the city.

"The company has its own (private) security and adequate measures are in place to ensure safety of its employees and security of its offices across the campus. We have, however, alerted the company about the letter and need to take precautions," Murthy said.

Wipro admitted that a security check was undertaken of its Sarjapur campus, while its operations continued to be as usual.

"As a matter of routine, a security check was undertaken at our Sarjapur campus. Our operations continue to be business as usual," the company said in a statement later.