Bengaluru: A bomb threat call created panic at Bengaluru’s Embassy Tech Village on Outer Ring Road on Friday, prompting the police to evacuate over 700 employees of various companies operating at the tech village.
It was only after the bomb and dog squads reached the spot and conducted a detailed inspection that the call was found to be a hoax received at the Cisco office located inside the tech village. The tech park hosts a group of multinational companies, like Cisco, Sony, Altimerk, Moody’s Analytics and Wells Fargo.
DCP (Whitefield) Abdul Ahad said that the call was received at 1 pm following which panic gripped the entire park and the employees of companies located in the building where Cisco is located stepped out of their offices and gathered at a safe distance from the buildings. He said that the caller spoke in Hindi and informed that a bomb will explode within 10 minutes.
“The Cisco office received the bomb threat call at 1 pm. The caller informed in Hindi that a bomb which he has set would go off in 10 minutes. We evacuated the people and the bomb squad was at the spot, which is a standard operating procedure. The call came as a VoIP call. We contacted Cyber Crime to trace the call and the caller,” Mr Ahad said.
Things became normal and employees returned to work after the police confirmed that there was no bomb and that the call was a hoax.
Meanwhile, the tech park issued a statement saying, “A bomb threat call was made to an employee of Cisco, operating out of Embassy Tech Village at midday today (Friday). 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. 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 these Standard Operating Procedures, will be carrying out a full incident and response review.”
