The Hindu

• Search goes on for two hours in school; bag in bus creates panic  

Bangalore, Jul 26: The city police on Tuesday received hoax calls about bombs being placed in an educational institution. A scare was caused when an unclaimed bag was found on a Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation bus.

The school and the college run by the KLE Society in Rajajinagar received a telephone call around 10 a.m. stating that three bombs had been placed on their premises and that they would explode around 12.30 p.m.

The employee who received the call immediately alerted the police.

Scared: Children take a step back as a dog squad searches for a bomb in KLE Society's school in Bangalore on Tuesday.       Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

The Rajajinagar police came to the spot with bomb disposal squad and dog squad. After searching the place for over two hours, the police found the call to be a hoax.

The police are finding it hard to identify the caller as the institution does not have a caller ID facility.

Some passengers found an abandoned laptop computer bag, of the size of a large briefcase, in a bus proceeding to Andrahalli from the City Market. They brought it to the notice of the driver, who took the bus to Chamarajpet police station. The police immediately cleared the bus.

The bomb disposal squad and the dog squad were called and the bag was taken to a secluded place and was opened.

The police found cheques and some documents related to Nitish Gupta, a businessman from Banashankari third Stage. It was later found that the bag was stolen from Mr. Gupta near Jama Masjid in City Market police station limits on Tuesday morning.

In his complaint, Mr. Gupta said that when he got off his car near Jama Masjid, a stranger diverted his driver's attention and ran away with the bag. The stranger took away the laptop kept in the bag, and left the bag in the bus, the police said.