Mumbai: Man gives false warnings of blasts at railway stations, arrested

Mumbai: The Government Railway Police (GRP) in Mumbai have arrested a 55-year-old labourer for allegedly making calls warning of bomb blasts at railway stations earlier this month.

An anonymous call on July 13 had sent the railway police into a tizzy, but the information proved to be wrong.

"It was Babu Chauhan who had called the control room at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and said that a blast was likely at the Churchgate station in South Mumbai," said a GRP official on Saturday.

The police traced the call to a PCO in Mahim, central Mumbai, and zeroed in on Chauhan from CCTV footage.

Chauhan, a native of Gujarat who works in the catering industry and lives on a footpath in Mahim, was arrested on Friday under section 177 (furnishing false information) of IPC, the official said.

He was produced in a court on Saturday which remanded him in judicial custody till August 4. After reading about terror attacks in newspapers, he feared similar attacks in the city and called the GRP control room to warn the police, the official said.

"After reading about attack on Amarnath pilgrims in Kashmir, he called the control room the next day and warned about a blast at Churchgate," he said.

Chauhan had also called earlier, on July 5, asking the police to increase the security at railway stations. "He called the control room and said, "Tomorrow is July 6. Increase the security at railway stations as explosives are being brought from Kharghar," the official said.
Though probe is on, it seems that Chauhan didn't have
any mischief in mind, the officer said.