An elderly woman called up a five-star hotel in central Bengaluru on October 17 saying a Kashmiri youth may have planted a bomb there, sending the staff into a tizzy and leading to an intense search of the premises that eventually turned out to be futile.
The call to the landline of JW Mariott Hotel, Vittal Mallya Road, came around 11 am and claimed the bomb plot had been four months in the making. The woman said she somehow got the information and had called to warn the hotel management.
The hotel staff quickly called the jurisdictional Cubbon Park police and launched a thorough search of the hotel but didn't find anything. Devendra Madye, loss prevention manager at the hotel, later filed a police complaint.
Police have opened a case under IPC sections 505 (2) and 505 (1)(b) (whoever makes, publishes or circulates any statement, rumour or report with an intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the state or against the public tranquillity). They suspect it could be a hoax call and are checking the woman's call detail record.