Ambani, Bachchan bomb threat: The price of hoax calls

The Nagpur police control room received a phone call on Tuesday in which the caller threatened that bombs would go off in the houses of businessman Mukesh Ambani and megastars Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra, among other celebrities of Mumbai. The caller even claimed that 25 armed men had already reached Dadar to carry out a separate terrorist attack. A similar hoax call was made not even a week back, on February 25. A man was arrested after he called the Mumbai Police’s south control room saying bomb blasts would be carried out at JJ Hospital, Bhendi Bazar and Nal Bazar. Security agencies waste an average five long hours each time a bomb hoax call is received, delaying citizens and putting tremendous stress on law enforcement agencies. Who are the regular targets of hoax calls? The regular targets in Mumbai are the iconic buildings and railway stations like the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus or Dadar. The Ambanis are not regular targets, but the Bachchans are. The Mumbai University is another frequent target. What is the man hours and resource loss in checking a hoax call? Anywhere between three and five hours, but it depends on the location. For example, if it's a densely crowded area, like a railway station or an airport, then it takes a long time. They first have to clear out passengers and then go for checks. The more densely packed an area is, the more is the cost. The standard operating procedure is to call the bomb detection squad, the dog squad and the local police. It involves a lot of people, who get diverted from regular duties to check these instances. Why do people make hoax calls? What are their motives? The most common motive is to play a prank. In a large number of cases, those involved are drunkards or those who want to extract revenge. For example, there was an incident at the Kalina campus of Mumbai University where a student whose results were delayed made a hoax call. Sometimes the caller has a mental health condition. In such cases it becomes tricky for the authorities. There have been incidents where someone with a history of mental illness has made repeated hoax calls for over months or years. The authorities can't take legal action against them because of their health conditions. They speak to the family and advise them to keep the person away from any gadget. Have police ever found a confounding motive for the hoax call? There was an incident recently where the joint commissioner (traffic) got a call at around 2am when he was asleep. The caller introduced himself as an MLA. Later, it turned out that it was not him. He told the Joint Commissioner that there would be a series of explosions right outside Mira Bhayandar. is a suburb on the fringes of Mumbai. When police traced the call, they found that the MLA’s number had been spoofed using software. The call was made from somewhere in China. It's still not clear why the call was made. There have been other instances too where VPNs from the UK and the US were used and calls were masked. Every call has to be taken seriously because one can never know if it's a hoax or not. So every single time the authorities have to send out people on the ground and carry out checks. WhatsApp seems to be the preferred mode of communication to send out hoax threats. The Mumbai traffic police have an active WhatsApp traffic helpline, so this is where the hoax messages are mostly sent. This WhatsApp traffic helpline which is supposed to solve traffic issues and attend to problems like congestion on the streets, is now at the receiving end of all these hoax messages. Is there any data on the number of hoax calls received? Mumbai police do not maintain such data. News reports say that in 2021 alone, there were at least 18 hoax calls. In 2022, the number was lower, with 15 hoax calls. This year in the first two months alone there have been eight calls. What is the status of convictions? Convictions are rare in hoax call cases because not all cases are prosecuted. If the person making the call has a mental health condition, then the cops speak to the family. If it's a prank, then the defence counsel argues that the caller is a first-timer and there was no malafide intention. A bail would be sought. But the Indian Penal Code gives seven years in prison if the call is a threat to life. Not all cases are lodged. They are released with warnings. There was an incident in 2017 on an airplane. A businessman named Birju Sala was booked under the Anti Hijacking Act. He had planted a hijack threat note in the toilet of one of the planes because he wanted to get back at a cabin crew member who had rejected his advances. Sala was the first person to be booked under the Anti Hijacking Act. A couple of years later, the NIA court in Ahmedabad sentenced him to life. He had to pay a fine of Rs 5 crore. But this is a rare case. Audio production: Prateek Kapoor.