Bomb threats at Metro station, Gurgaon markets a hoax

People were evacuated from a Delhi Metro station and two markets in posh areas of Gurgaon Wednesday afternoon after police received bomb threat calls, officials said. The threats, however, turned out to be hoaxes.

Train services were affected for over two-and-a-half hours - from around 3.30 p.m. till 6 p.m. - after a bomb threat at the HUDA City Centre station, police said.

The station was emptied after the police control room received a call from an unidentified man who said a bomb was planted in the station's basement.

Commuters were not allowed to enter the station as police launched a search operation.

However, trains operated as usual from the IFFCO Chowk station towards Delhi.

Bomb threat calls also forced police to clear out people from the Vyapar Kendra in Sushant Lok area and Galleria Market in New Gurgaon.

Police commandos tried to find the bombs as claimed in the threats.

The three-hour search operation by over 400 policemen revealed that the bomb scare was a hoax.

The man said in the 20-second phone call: "I have planted a high intensity bomb in a car parked in the basement of the HUDA City Centre station. I have also done so in two markets of New Gurgaon. 'Bacha sako to bacha lo' (Save if you can)."

"The call was made from the National Capital Region (NCR). We have almost identified the caller but we do not want to reveal the identity at this point," a police officer told IANS.

Gurgaon Commissioner of Police Navdeep Singh Virk also confirmed it was a hoax call.