BENGALURU: The phone alert of an impending terror attack, which had the state police in a tizzy on Friday, was the result of a ‘divine vision’ which warned the caller of terror attacks targeting trains and cities in south India, the caller said on Saturday.
At 5.35pm on Friday, Sundar Murthy (65), an ex-army man, called the police control room and warned them of the terror attack. The alert travelled up the command chain and led the Director General & Inspector General of Police (DG & IGP) Neelamani N Raju to issue alerts to her counterparts at about 7pm to take precautionary measures.
The sexagenarian was arrested late Friday night by the Central Crime Branch sleuths who found the call to be a hoax.Murthy, now a truck driver, said he had ‘visions’ during his routine meditation sessions and called the police control room claiming to have information about possible terror attacks in major cities in South India, especially targeting trains.
He was traced to his house in Avalahalli on the city outskirts around 10 pm, about four-and-a-half hours after he made the call, saying that he was alerting them even as he was driving to Hosur, Deputy Commissioner of police, CCB, Girish S said. Police said he was a driver in the army and had no previous criminal record. He has been handed over to Vidhana Soudha police station.
The officer said although it was a hoax call, they couldn’t take chances and hence had to share the information with their counterparts in the neighbouring states.Following the call, state police chief Neelamani Raju had the alert faxed to the police chiefs of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Goa and Maharashtra.
In the letter, the DGP said: “....He claims to have information to the effect that major cities in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Pondicherry, Goa and Maharashtra will be hit by terror attacks. The terror attacks will take place on trains.” The letter also cites Murthy as saying “19 terrorists are present at Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu.”