Navi Mumbai: Drunk man booked for making hoax bomb call

Navi Mumbai: The Panvel City police booked a 50-year-old Mumbai resident for allegedly making a hoax call regarding a bomb to be exploded on Republic Day by a gang of 10 people. The man informed the police control room of Navi Mumbai police on January 25 night.

The phone call left the police in a tizzy and they started searching for the caller to get more details. However, the call turned out to be a hoax and the caller made the call under the influence of alcohol after he had a fight with a group of people in Panvel on January 25 night.

The man was identified as Ajay Baburao Hankare, a resident of Kalachowki in Mumbai.

Call made to take revenge from group of people

According to police, Hankare had a fight with a group of 10 people who allegedly beat him over an issue near Reliance Mall in Panvel. After the fight, he called the police control room and informed the police that a group of people had beaten him and they were carrying a suspicious bag and they had the plan to explode a bomb on Republic Day. The police control room informed the Panvel City police.

Under the guidance of Senior Police Inspector Vijay Kadbane, a team rushed to the site. However, there was no one. But a security guard of a nearby shop informed the police that there was a brawl around 9 pm on January 25 and a group of people had beaten a man. The security guard also informed that a man had made a call to the police control room and later left in his car on the Mumbai Goa highway.

A team was rushed to the Mumbai-Goa highway and the police control was asked to call that person and ask him to wait. Finally, the police reached the caller who parked his car near the Konkan Express hotel along the highway towards Pen.

The police found that the man was under the influence of alcohol and later admitted that he gave false information to the police control room. The police also seized two liquor bottles from him.

The Panvel City police registered against him under sections 182 and 505 (1)B of IPC and sections 65 (e) and 85 of the Maharashtra Prohibition Act. Senior PI Kadbane said that a notice was issued to Hankare.