Hoax calls raising false alarms of fire have been common, but making hoax calls by pranksters threatening to blow off bridges, railway station, Har Ki Pauri and other important places seem to have turned into the latest trend in Haridwar city where the Ardh Kumbh Mela has been going on with millions thronging it from across the country.
The same happened during Somvati Amavasya Snan of Monday when the mela police had a tough time managing the huge rush of pilgrims. A call came on the number 100 gave the cops wrinkles on their brows as the caller said that the ammunition being ready, Haridwar would be blown off shortly. The caller, a teenager, was arrested on Tuesday morning by joint team of SOTF Kumbh Mela and Haridwar police. Police said they had received many such calls in the recent past in the aftermath of the four suspected IS operatives being arrested from Roorkee.
Police said that on Sunday, in a similar incident, a 33- year- old was arrested who had used his father- in- law’s mobile to make a hoax call just to embroil the old man in the matter since he had been running a feud with him.
Things repeated on Monday when lakhs of devotees were having the holy bathing in Ganga. As per police, they had received a call on 100, on Monday, saying, “Aslaha tayar hai, Haridwar udana hai.” Taking it seriously, IG Ardh Kumbh Mela sounded alert across the district. SOTF in-charge Aishwarya Pal was given the responsibility to probe the matter. On Tuesday morning, in a joint operation by Haridwar and Ardh Kumbh Mela police, the caller was nabbed near DAV Public School.
Speaking to The Pioneer, Haridwar police station in-charge Mahendra Singh Negi said, “The accused has been identified as Ankit, 19- year-old resident of village Ajitpur. After flunking Class X examination, he has been running a small shop of rosaries. He played prank by calling from the 100 helpline number.”
Such calls are nuisance for the cops when they are engaged in firming up fool-proof security for the pilgrims and the tourists swarming into the holy city, said IG Ardh Kumbh Mela G S Martolia. “It drains our financial resources too, since to trace things, a police patrol car or a bike is used. It consumes petrol. However, more importantly, such pranks waste time,” said the IG.
Things are easy for the pranksters as they tend to be released on bails once the cases are taken up in the court after they are kept in prison for two to three days. Police top brass thinks that such cases need to be dealt with more seriously. “Things being easy is emboldening the pranksters. Such offences might be considered more seriously to deter them from playing such obnoxious pranks,” said a senior State cop. However, when asked, IG Ardh Kumbh Mela said, “We can only appeal to the people not to use police for their own vested interests or play pranks. We would nab them in no time. However, I cannot say anything on how the court should deal with such cases.”