It was a hoax call made simply out of professional jealousy by a construction mason that had a cascading effect on the security situation in the temple city, causing untold inconvenience to the Tirumala-bound devotees last week.
Mohammad Amirul Islam Shaik from Gangavati town in Koppal district of Karnataka was arrested by the Tirupati Urban district police on Tuesday on charges of creating a false alarm.
Though a Bangladeshi migrant, this construction mason possesses PAN card, Aadhaar card and even a voter identity card.
He admitted to having made a phone call from his cell phone with number 07731946813 to the office of the Director-General of Police, Bengaluru on December 11 (Thursday), claiming that a bomb had been planted by one Raju Sarkar alias Uttam Kumar in Tirupati , which was timed with the arrival of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
The Karnataka Police promptly conveyed the message to Andhra Pradesh. counterparts and the Tirupati Urban Police swung into action and frisked the visiting pilgrims at the central bus station, railway station, along Alipiri and Srivarimettu trekking routes.
Though they, indeed, suspected Raju Sarkar, a construction worker hailing from Balurghat district of West Bengal, in the case, he turned out to be innocent.
The inputs provided by him, however, led the police to Koppal. Sarkar worked for sometime under Amirul Islam, but parted ways citing paltry wages and moved to Tirupati, along with a couple of workers.
“Intending to teach him a lesson, Islam made the call just to trouble his rival, but it caused a lot of tension to us and inconvenience to people,” said Superintendent of Police Gopinath Jatti, while producing the accused before the media on Tuesday evening. The hoax call pushed the cops, who were already busy making security arrangements for the Chief Minister’s visit, from the proverbial frying pan into the fire. It was around the same time that Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa had visited Tirupati.
Cases have been registered against Islam Shaik under the Section 153, 505 of IPC, Section 7(1) Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1932 and 66 (1) (A) of IT Act, Mr. Jatti said, while announcing reward to the Alipiri policemen for busting the case.
