‘Prank’ leads to bomb scare in Sec 10

Bom blast 1 pm — these four misspelled words scribbled on a car created panic in Sector 10 on Friday. As the police led by senior officers,all geared up with a bomb disposal squad in tow,reached the spot,it was found to be a prank played by some teenagers.

Dr Deepali Aggarwal,a resident of Sector 16,Panchkula,had come to Sector 10 in her Maruti car to meet a friend. She had parked her car in the parking lot of Leisure Valley,near the Sector-10 petrol pump. After taking a walk,Deepali returned and found the words scribbled on the car. Terrified,she immediately called the police control room. Since the spot was very near to the Sector 9 police headquarters,a large number of police personnel,including a bomb disposal squad,the DSP (Central),and a team of the Operations Cell and Crime Branch,reached the spot and cordoned off the area. After a thorough search of the car was conducted and nothing was found,the police took the car to Sector 3 police station for further investigations. It took another hour to ascertain that the car was not carrying any explosive substance. The car was later returned to Deepali in the evening.

In the evening,a woman Home Guard volunteer with the Chandigarh Police came forward to solve the mystery as she told the police that she saw three boys alighting from an Alto car and scribbling something on the car with a sketch pen. The number of the car provided by the volunteer,Sukhwinder Kaur,was then traced to the residence of Parvez,a Class X student of National Open School and a resident of Khuda Lahora.

Story continues below this ad

After the police detained Pervez for interrogation at about 3.30 pm,he disclosed the names of two of his friends who were along with him when they scribbled the words on the car. He named fellow Khuda Lahora residents Nikhil and Aju,class XII students. He said they were playing a “prank”.

The police let off the boys for their “childish” act. “We have conducted a thorough probe and found that it was an act of immaturity. The boys have no criminal background. They have been let off with a warning,” said DSP Satbir Singh.