The crime branch unit 11 of Kandivali area arrested a man, who called the police control room and claimed he had placed 25 bombs at various spots in the city.
The man, identified as Alok Santosh Tiwari (30), claimed to be an aide of fugitive gangster Chhota Shakeel and demanded Rs 10 crore for information on the locations where the bombs had been planted.
Police officials said the man got the idea for such a prank from the Naseeruddin Shah-starrer A Wednesday!, which released in 2008. The police arrested the prankster in the wee hours of Friday. He will be handed over to Azad Maidan police station for further investigation, the police said.
Tiwari, a resident of Bartak Ali area in Wadala, was working in a mobile company. He was unable to support his family comfortably on his low income, which triggered quarrels with the family members.
Officials said he had watched the movie A Wednesday! — about a civilian holding cops to ransom over bombs placed at various spots in the city — a few months ago and got inspired. It struck him as an easy way to earn a quick buck, said the police.
Later, on June 15, he saw the movie once more on his mobile. At 10.30 am on Thursday he called the police control room and said that he was an aide of gangster Chhota Shakeel and had planted bombs at 25 spots in the city.
Tiwari also demanded Rs 10 crore from the police to reveal the spots. Soon after the call, the police put his mobile number on tracking. “At the time of calling the control room, he was at Kurla railway station. He loitered around there a long time and even called a friend,” said a police official.
“The accused apparently believed the police would immediately arrive with the ransom amount as demanded by him,” said an official. Later the case was handed over to the crime branch and it was able to track the friend Tiwari had called from the Kurla station. The friend was nabbed from Kalwa area Thursday night, who then directed the cops to Tiwari, who was finally arrested Friday early morning.
