Press Trust of India
 
BANGALORE, Apr 19: A mobile phone thief, who used to make hoax calls, saying he has planted bombs in Vidhan Soudha (State Secretariat), High Court and 
shopping malls to create panic among people and also threaten women from the stolen devices, has been nabbed by police.

Police on Sunday said that 24-year-old Jalendra from Hassan district had been working in various hotels under assumed names and stealing mobile phones. He was arrested yesterday.

With these phones, he used to ring up the police control room, saying he has planted bombs in places like the Vidhan Soudha, High Court and shopping malls, they said.

He also read newspapers about stories covering bomb hoax calls and the panic it created among people and continued making such calls, police said.

Jalendra also used to call numbers logged in the mobiles and if any woman picked up the phone, speak in 'filthy language'. If the parents objected, he threatened them, police said.

He called known numbers in Arakalgud and surrounding villages in Hassan district, spoke as a stranger and created panic among the womenfolk, police said