Mumbai's five-star hotel receives hoax bomb threat; caller demands Rs 5 crore to diffuse explosives

Mumbai: The Lalit hotel in Mumbai received a bomb threat call on Tuesday demanding a ransom of Rs 5 crore. Mumbai Police said that an unidentified person called the hotel and said that bombs have been kept at four places in the hotel and that the caller demanded Rs 5 crore to defuse them.

However, it turned out to be a hoax as no bomb was found anywhere in the hotel during security checks.

Sahar police have registered a case against the unidentified caller under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and further investigation is on.

This threat call was received just days after the city police had received a 26/11-like terrorist attack threat from a Pakistani number. Taking serious note, the Mumbai Police immediately got cracking, formed three teams of Crime Branch to investigate while other states and central agencies are also being involved in the operations, said city Commissioner of Police Vivek Phansalkar.

"We are not taking the threat lightly. Any call we receive, we treat it seriously. In the past several of them have turned out to be hoaxes," Mumbai police commissioner Vivek Phansalkar had said.

The threats, warning of 'explosions' in the country's commercial capital, exceeding the effect of 26/11 (2008), were received in a WhatsApp chat at the Mumbai Traffic Police Control Room around 11 p.m. on Friday, sending the city's security apparatus into a state of high-alert early on Saturday morning.

"Mumbaikars should not panic. We are probing the issue from all angles and the Crime Branch is investigating it. Nothing will happen, we shall keep the city safe," Phansalkar told the media.