India: Bomb threat at Google’s office in Pune turns out to be a hoax, caller detained in Hyderabad

The police in the Indian financial capital, Mumbai said that a man from Hyderabad was arrested after he called in a bomb threat at Google’s office in Pune, on late Sunday (February 12). The caller, later identified as Panayam Shivanand, alerted the tech giant’s office in Mumbai about placing an explosive device at the office of Google in Pune which prompted the city’s police and Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) to take action. The next morning, the Mumbai police said that the caller from Hyderabad claimed to be in an inebriated state and was later detained while the call turned out to be a hoax.

“Google company's office in Maharashtra's Pune city was briefly put on alert after it received a call about a bomb in the premises which later turned out to be a hoax,” said the police, on Monday. Google's office located at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai received the call at 7:54 pm (local time) on Sunday that a bomb had been placed in the tech giant’s Pune office, said the police.

Subsequently, the Pune police along with the BDDS checked Google office premises which isin the city’s Mundhwa area on the 11th floor but nothing suspicious was found, said the officials. The caller was later traced to the Indian state Telangana’s city of Hyderabad and detained by the city’s police. According to Amol Zende, DCP (Crime) Pune, the accused made the hoax call due to a dispute with his brother who works at the Google office based in Pune.

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“The caller has been traced to Hyderabad and apprehended. He allegedly made the call in an inebriated condition,” said the Pune police official. An investigation into the incident is underway, said the authorities. Meanwhile, a case has been registered against the accused at Mumbai’s BKC police station under sections 505 (1) (b) and 506 (2) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for intent to cause harm and likely to cause, fear or alarm to public and criminal intimidation respectively.

(With inputs from agencies)

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