Bomb scare at the historic Taj Mahal
admin May 30th, 2008
There was a bomb scare at the historic Taj Mahal Friday, which put the Indian security forces on maximum alert. A telephone call was received today from Southern Indian town of Madurai about a bomb being planted at the Taj Mahal, news agency Press Trust of India reported, quoting a top officer of Uttar Pradesh police. Taj Mahal is located in Agra town in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and situated at a few hours drive from Delhi. It is part of the famous tourist Golden Triangle of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur.
Security personnel searched the Taj Mahal premises for more than two hours on Friday afternoon after police received a bomb threat by phone.
Personnel from the Central Industrial Security Force, UP police and the PAC searched ever corner of the Taj Mahal and the dog squad and the bomb disposal squad were called. The area around the Taj Mahal was turned into a fortress and traffic movement around the monument was suspended.
Top officials including the zone Inspector General of Police supervised the operation that covered the sides and rear of the monument.
There was no tourist rush at the Taj as Friday is the weekly off day. The namazis at the monument were also thoroughly frisked.
SSP Mohit Agarwal told the media that the caller’s identity was being traced and investigations were on to find out the motive. Police later said that SSP Mohit Agarwal received a phone call in the afternoon. The caller said someone had rung him to say that there would be a bomb blast in the Taj complex. This triggered the massive security operation.
The call received by one Kalyan Singh in Agra on his mobile phone, the officer said, adding, “following this call security was beefed up at Taj Mahal. The police and paramilitary “did not want to take any chances.” The Tamil Nadu Police have been informed about the phone call from Madurai, the officer said. Madurai is located in the Southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. On May 13, serial blasts in Jaipur had killed 61 and injured 216 citizens.