New Delhi: A bomb threat that allegedly invoked links to Pakistan and warned of blasts in Delhi turned out to be an elaborate prank by a 23-year-old UPSC aspirant, who was apprehended from Kanpur in UP within 48 hours of allegedly making the call, police said Sunday.The person, a former roommate and fellow civil services aspirant of the complainant, allegedly used a landline phone at a relative’s house and modulated his voice to create the impression that he was calling on behalf of a terror outfit from Lahore. He made the threatening call to scare his former roommate, police said.On the night of Oct 27, Mukherjee Nagar police station received a PCR call. The complainant, a native of Madhepura in Bihar, told cops that his roommate got a call from an unknown landline number. The caller allegedly began with a religious greeting before claiming that the terror outfit had been monitoring the students and selected them to trigger bomb blasts in Delhi.Alarmed by the threat, the students attempted to dissuade the caller. When the complainant falsely claimed that his father was a UP cabinet minister in order to intimidate the caller, the latter allegedly responded with derogatory political remarks before abruptly disconnecting the call.Taking no chances with a threat that appeared to have cross-border terror links, the students alerted police. A case was registered under sections 353(1)(b) (statements conducing to public mischief) and 353(2) (spreading false statements or rumors promoting communal or group hatred) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and an investigation was launched.Given the sensitive nature of the threat, a police team was formed to identify the caller. Investigators analysed telecommunication records and other technical inputs, eventually tracing the landline number to Kanpur. A team of Delhi Police travelled to Kanpur and, with the assistance of local cops, conducted a raid and apprehended the suspect. They found out that he used to earlier stay with the other two students in Mukherjee Nagar.The probe revealed that the purported cross-border terror threat was fabricated and had no actual links to any organisation in Pakistan, police said. DCP (northwest) Akanksha Yadav said prompt action, technical surveillance and coordination with UP police helped the Delhi cops crack the case within 48 hours.
