Bomb scare at software firm spreads panic

Bomb scare at software firm spreads panic
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: Nearly 2,000 employees working at a multi-storey business complex on Hosur Road in Bommasandra, were evacuated, on Friday, morning when a bomb threat was received at the office of the software firm, HCL, on Friday.

A massive search for explosives, which went on for hours, however, proved that the threat was a hoax.

Strangely, the threat was taken seriously only about five hours after it was received. According to the police, a call was received at the HCL office in Golden Hill Square on Hosur Road around 4 AM.

A security guard, Dhanupal Gowda, attended the call and heard a voice saying in Kannada: ‘‘Bomb hakthini’ (I will throw a bomb). Apparently, Gowda later informed the building security but nothing was done.

Later, the supervisor learnt about this and informed police by around 9.30 AM and a bomb disposal squad was pressed into the service. Apart from HCL, the complex houses ING Vysya Bank, Bosch and Sasken Technologies.

The search went on into the afternoon but there was no sign of a bomb, police said. Incidentally, the company phone, on which the call was received, did not have a caller identity facility. Madiwala police are tracing the call.

However, for the employees, it was a trying time as they were left waiting outside their offices.

‘‘We were asked to leave our belongings and leave immediately. Later, the company declared a holiday but we were not allowed in to take our bags. Many of us had left our house keys and other belongings inside,’’ said an employee of a software firm.