Taj Mahal briefly shut down after bomb scare, Agra police say it was a hoax call
A senior police officer said that no bomb had been found in the premises and that efforts were on to trace the caller.
A bomb scare at the Taj Mahal in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra district briefly triggered panic on Thursday, reported NDTV. The authorities asked tourists to immediately vacate the monument after the Uttar Pradesh Police received a bomb threat call from an unidentified caller.
However, the call later turned out to be a hoax, and the entry to tourists resumed after 11 am, the channel reported. A senior police officer told NDTV that no bomb had been found and that efforts were on to trace the caller.
“This morning, an unknown person called on Uttar Pradesh 112 and said there will be a bomb blast at the Taj Mahal,” Agra Inspector General Satish Ganesh told the channel. “Immediately, as per the standard operating procedure, our bomb squad and other teams conducted a thorough search of the premises. So far, our field units haven’t given any information of such an item being found.”
A team of Agra Police and the Central Industrial Security Force personnel and a bomb disposal squad was on the spot. “I’d like to assure everyone that 99% it is a hoax call,” Ganesh said. “But we are following the drill.”