TVK chief Vijay’s residence in Neelankarai receives bomb threat; hoax caller arrested

A 37-year-old man was arrested for making a hoax bomb threat call targeting actor-politician Vijay’s Neelankarai residence in Chennai. Police and BDDS conducted thorough searches, found nothing, and confirmed the call was a hoax. Similar threats have targeted city personalities recently

Chennai: Police arrested a 37-year-old man on Thursday for making a hoax call to the police control room post midnight about planting a bomb at actor-politician Vijay’s Neelankarai residence here, said officials.

The man has been identified as Shabik, said police sources. On getting a call, the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) was sent to the spot early in the morning, and checks were carried out, but nothing was found, police officials added.

---

Police at the scene said they started the search around 3 am. Initially, the search was conducted outside the house. Later, when Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam founder Vijay woke up, police were let into the house to search, they added.

“We left around 7.25 am when we found nothing,” said the police. They earlier said it was an email through which the threat was received, but later they said it was a phone call. An Assistant Commissioner of Police told PTI that city personalities have been receiving bomb hoax mails from a Hotmail address.

“Last month, another actor-politician, S Ve Shekher, also received a bomb threat mail. The content of these emails is similar. We are yet to trace that mail ID,” said the official. On October 6, a prominent national daily from Chennai, too, received a bomb threat mail claiming three RDX IEDs had been planted in their premises.

Like in previous cases, the BDD Squad declared it a hoax after a thorough search.