Bomb scare at Mumbai's Churchgate station, security stepped up ater massive search operation

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Mumbai: An unidentified caller on Thursday warned of an impending bomb blast at Mumbai's busy Churchgate train station, prompting a massive search operation at the railway station. 

However, no explosive was found.

According to the Railway Protection Force (RPF), its control room received a call around 10:45 am that a bomb would go off at the station which is chock-a-block with people at that time.

Immediately, the RPF and other security agencies launched a search operation involving among other agencies the Mumbai Police and the Anti-Terrorism Squad which lasted for about two hours-and-a-half. The call turned out to be hoax and no bomb was found.

"Following the call, we have taken precautionary measures and security has been tightened at the station," an RPF official said.

Both the RPF and the Government Railway Police (GRP) are keeping a close watch at the station and on trains, the official said.

"The call was received from an unidentified source. An inquiry is underway," he said.

Following the incident, the Western Railway (WR) said security has been beefed up at all the stations.

"In the search operation, the agencies did not find anything. As a precautionary measure, security has been tightened at all the stations, including Churchgate," WR's chief public relations officer (CPRO) Ravinder Bhakar said.

Sachin Bhalode, senior divisional security commissioner of RPF (Mumbai division), said, "Security has been stepped up at all the suburban railway stations and we have asked officials to conduct proper security checks."

(With PTI inputs)