Hoax threat about bomb at mosque in Bengaluru; Cops nab accused after raids in 3 states

Bengaluru’s Shivajinagar police have arrested a man for making a hoax call that a bomb had been planted in a mosque. The accused has been identified as Syed Qazi Mohammad Anwarullah Khan (37), a native of Maharashtra. It was revealed that Syed had come to Bengaluru on July 5 and went near the mosque in the area and started asking for funds for some madrasa from random people. This was the time the incident took place. 

Deputy Commissioner of Police (East Zone), Bheemashankar Guled told Republic TV, "The accused has been identified as Syed Qazi Mohammed Anwarullah Khan. He has been remanded to 14 days judicial custody. During the interrogation, we got to know that the accused was collecting funds in the name of a madrasa outside a mosque from the devotees. He asked permission to sleep in the mosque, but the security denied him permission. So, enraged by this he made a hoax call. We got to know about this person from Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh police." It is being said that the accused used to ask for funds near the Azam Masjid behind Russell Market in Shivajinagar, for which he made the hoax call. 

Police conducted raids at multiple locations before nabbing accused from Telangana

Briefing about how the accused was traced, the DCP said, "The accused had called the control room on July 5 at around 9.45 PM claiming that a bomb was placed at a mosque in Shivajinagar. He did not give any other specifics or details about himself when asked by the control room. A team of police officials conducted thorough inspection in all the mosques of Shivajinagar with anti-sabotage and bomb squads, but, they couldn't find anything. We tried calling him repeatedly and he started giving different statements. The Shivajinagar police registered a suo-motu case in this regard after obtaining permission from the court. Based on his call details, we alerted the Chikkaballapur police and informed them that such a call had come from Kurnool, but they weren't able to nab him. Further, our teams of police launched a manhunt to nab him for the next 2 days and eventually arrested him on July 8."

During the interrogation, the accused disclosed that enraged with the denial to sleep inside the mosque, he went to Majestic and boarded the Kurnool bus. As soon as the bus crossed Chikkaballapur, he called the police helpline from his mobile and told them that a bomb had been planted in the mosque. As per police official, no previous involvement of the accused in any criminal activity was found during the inquiry. 

As per information, the Shivajinagar police had conducted a raid in Andhra Pradesh and in Kurnool, before nabbing the accused from Mahabubnagar in Telangana. The accused is said to have completed his BSc degree, but was unemployed. In order to meet his living requirements, he used to go around mosques and ask for money.