Kathmandu, March 1
After receiving a call at the Control Room at around 10.30 am that there was a bomb at the gate of Siddhartha Insurance, just across the southern gate of Singha Durbar, the government secretariat, a police team under DSP Prajit KC of the Metropolitcan Police Circle, Singha Durbar, swung into action.
Scouring the area, the team found a suspicious object, which looked like a bomb, at Colour Bazaar near Hanumansthan at Anamnagar. Police sealed the area, KC informed the control room to inform that the object looked like a bomb and then called up the Nepali Army’s bomb disposal squad.
By then, NA, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force teams had already sealed the area. People poured into the area after receiving information from the media about the presence of a bomb-like object there.
The NA’s bomb disposal squad did not arrive at the scene even after sealing the area for one-and-a-half hours. Apparently, traffic jam had delayed the squad’s arrival.
Later, the squad checked the object with its equipment, while the spectators were speculating as to what the object really was. From the gate, it took the object to the road.
Considering the risks associated with exploding the iron object, the team took it in a safe place in a vehicle.
Captain Pradip Dhwoj Budhathoki of the disposal team said, “Some of the objects nuts were loose. We checked the object, only to find that it was a water purifying machine, a broken water purifying machine.”
For three hours, people panicked taking a broken machine as a bomb.
DSP KC also clarified that it was a broken and discarded water purifying machine, not a bomb.
After finding the suspicious object, police had launched an investigation on the basis of CCTV footage, which revealed that an individual had thrown away the object after finding that it was beyond repair, DSP KC informed.
Bomb hoaxes have been causing a lot of trouble not only to general public, but also to security agencies. On Friday, a bomb hoax had caused closure of the Lukla airport for hours.
Nonetheless, it is wise and safe to inform security agencies after seeing suspicious objects.
