The bomb threat call which was received by the Chandigarh Police Tuesday afternoon turned out to be a hoax after no suspicious item was found after a thorough check of the district court complex in Sector 43 here. ''An unclaimed bag with a tiffin box was found in the court complex.
There was no explosive,'' Assistant Superintendent of Police Mridul said. The court was evacuated and a thorough search was launched, he said, adding a tiffin box lying abandoned was found. It appears that during the evacuation process, someone might have left it behind, the officer said.
According to police, the police control room received information that there might be a bomb (inside the court complex). After this, a massive search operation was launched. The court work remained suspended for nearly three hours, ASP Mridul said, adding ''everything is normal now''.
Earlier, the court complex in Sector 43 was evacuated, with the police asking all present inside including the judges and advocates to move out. The area was cordoned off, and bomb disposal and dog squads were deployed at the site, which lies next to the busy interstate bus terminus.
While Chandigarh and its surrounding areas are already under tight vigil in view of the Republic Day function on Thursday, police also launched a search operation at other vital installations in the city including the inter-state bus terminus after the bomb threat.