by reciprocal arrangement of Star of Mysore

Mysore, Jan 4:  Anxiety loomed large over the City Railway Station here last night when a bomb scare panicked the passengers and sent the Police into a tizzy.

The cause for bomb scare was the recurring, sharp ticking sound coming out of a metal box parcel in the Railway parcel room.

The Railway personnel heard the ticking sound at around 6 pm yesterday. Thinking it to be a bomb, they informed the officials and later Police, who rushed to the spot with a sniffer dog.

The suspicion and anxiety was heightened, when the Police came to know that Mustafa, a Palestine national, in whose name the parcel was kept, was not a resident of Udayagiri extension as was furnished by him while registering the parcel to be sent to one Fadi Izzat in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh.

Later, the Police contacted Izzat in Aligarh and were puzzled when he told the Police that he was expecting only a refrigerator, not any other item such as the metal box.

Then, the Police called the ballistic experts, who rushed to the spot and kept the box hidden in a mound of mud. The passengers, who were spending anxious moments, were asked to keep off from the spot and the Police contacted Mustafa over his mobile phone.

When Mustafa arrived at the spot and opened the box, all the anxiety died down as the scary ticking sound coming from the box was of an alarm clock!

Thus ended hours of anxiety and scare, which was understandable, what with terror threats looming large over the State in the wake of attack on IISc in Bangalore.

DCPs K.T. Balakrishna, Rajendra Prasad, ACP Ganesh, Railway Police Inspector Nagappa and others were present.