Bomb threat: Taj West End Hotel in Bengaluru gets bomb threat email, security tightened

Bengaluru Police on Saturday said the Taj West End Hotel, located in the Race Course area of the city, received a bomb threat earlier today. The threat was delivered through an email from unknown miscreants.

Bengaluru Police said local police and bomb squad teams immediately rushed to the spot following the complaint to conduct a thorough investigation.

“A bomb threat was received from unknown persons”, ANI quoted Central Bengaluru Deputy Commissioner of Police Shekhar H Tekkannavar as saying.

“A detailed investigation was conducted in order to identify the people behind the threat,” the Central Bengaluru Deputy Commissioner added.

Meanwhile, English daily Deccan Herald has reported that the email threat to Taj West End Hotel was a hoax.

The daily reported Central Bengaluru Deputy Commissioner as saying that after a thorough probe, the police found the mail threat to be a hoax.

“We received the bomb threat e-mail to Taj West End Hotel in High Grounds PS this morning. Our BDDS and ASC team checked the premises and found it a hoax threat email,” Deccan Herald quoted Central Bengaluru Deputy Commissioner as saying.

It is important to note that Bengaluru's Taj West End is a heritage hotel. Classified under the Taj Group's business hotels section, the 133-year-old hotel is considered the oldest hotel in the city and is frequented by prominent politicians, celebrities and cricketers.

Separately, the Mumbai police on Saturday increased security at temples and crowded places in the financial capital of India following inputs of a threat of a terrorist attack.

All temples in the metropolitan city have been instructed to remain alert and report any suspicious activity as a precaution, said officials, reported ANI. Police personnel have also been told to conduct "mock drills" at religious and crowded places, sources said.

"We have been asked by Mumbai Police to increase the security of the temple. We have been asked to pay attention to all the security arrangements," Sada Sarvankar, the chairman of the Siddhivinayak temple trust said, reported NDTV.

The report said all the Deputy Commissioners of police have been asked to continuously monitor the security in their respective jurisdictions.