Bengaluru: Bomb threat at Embassy Tech Village turns out to be a hoax

The Embassy Tech Village at the Outer Ring Road of Bengaluru received a bomb threat on Friday, June 8. The employees working at the premises had been evacuated and search operations were on. 

The city police team, sniffer dogs and a bomb disposal squad were called in. However, the threat turned out to be a hoax. The spokesperson from Embassy Office Parks later issued a statement and confirmed that the employees were safe and back at work.  

"A bomb threat call was made to an employee of Cisco, operating out of Embassy Tech Village at midday today. As a precaution and in accordance with our standard operating procedures, the relevant buildings were evacuated and the Police and Fire authorities attended the scene," the statement read. 

All office buildings and basements within the business park were checked by the police and declared clear. Employees have now been permitted to move back into the buildings. We continue to take all measures to ensure the safety of our corporate occupiers in accordance with our Incident Management protocols and, in accordance with those Standard Operating Procedures, will be carrying out a full incident and response review."

DCP Whitefield Abdul Ahad had earlier confirmed that a threat call was received at Cisco and said that it could have been a prank.

"Yes, a threat call which we believe is mostly a prank call received around 1 pm. Someone speaking in Hindi said there would be a bomb blast in 10 minutes. The call was received at the Cisco office at Embassy Tech Village, which is next to Cessna Business Park in Marathahalli," he told the NewsMinute.

"We have evacuated people and the bomb squad is at the spot, which is a standard operating procedure. The call came as a VoIP call. We have contacted Cyber Crime to trace the call."

An unverified eyewitness has said that the police and sniffer dogs are in the area and several offices including the Sony office in the complex have been sealed.

Since July 25, 2008 bombings in the city, Bengaluru has become a sensitive tech capital where bomb threats are taken seriously.

Of late, hoax bomb threats have become common in the city and the latest one was on March 18 when the city's international airport received one, purportedly made by pranksters to help friends catch a flight.