Hoax call over terror attacks' in K'taka, Kerala among 8 States; one arrested

Bengaluru: The police on Saturday morning arrested a habitual offender, who made a hoax call on Friday night claiming that terrorists were planning to carry out attacks in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Puducherry, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

The accused is identified as Swamy Sundara Murthy (65), a retired army person and is working as a lorry driver. His son was martyred in the Kargil war.

As per the sources, Sundara was arrested in Avalahalli, in the outskirts of Bengaluru. The police said that Murthy is a habitual hoax caller.

On Friday, April 26 the Intelligence Bureau had received an input about major terror attacks being planned in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Puducherry, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The police had immediately formed a special squad to trace the location of the phone call.

The input received by the Intelligence Bureau had claimed the serial attacks would be carried out on trains and that 19 terrorists were present in Tamil Nadu. The security had been stepped up after the call as a precaution in view of deadly Sri Lanka attacks.