Man held for bomb scare at Taj Mahal that led to closure

Agra — At least 1,000 tourists inside the Taj Mahal complex in Agra were evacuated on Thursday following a bomb call which turned out to be a hoax, the police said.

The caller, identified as Vimal Kumar Singh, was detained in Firozabad and appeared to be mentally unstable, additional director general (ADG) of police, Agra zone, A Satish Ganesh said.

Singh called the 112 emergency response number of the Uttar Pradesh Police at around 9am and claimed that a bomb was kept inside the 17th-century monument.

The UP Police informed the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) who launched anti-sabotage checks at the Taj Mahal premises. Nothing suspicious was found, and the monument was reopened about two hours later, the ADG said.

“Prima facie it seems that he (Singh) is mentally unstable and is probably under treatment… The family members of the accused also claimed that he was under treatment for his ailment We are probing why he made such a call,” Ganesh said.