A man claiming to be the “CEO of Lashkar-e-Taiba,” a Pakistan-based terrorist group, made a threat call to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) customer service center in Mumbai on Saturday morning. The caller demanded that the back road near the RBI be blocked, citing a supposed breakdown of an electric car. Authorities promptly alerted the Mumbai Police, who conducted a thorough search of the area but found no suspicious activity. An investigation is now underway to identify the individual behind the call.
The incident comes amid a wave of hoax threat calls across the country, targeting various establishments, including schools, airports, and other institutions. Just days earlier, a caller threatened to bomb Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. The caller alleged that a man named Muhammad was traveling on a flight from Mumbai to Azerbaijan with explosives. The threat was relayed to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), but investigations revealed it was another false alarm.
These hoax threats have disrupted operations, especially in the aviation sector, with flights being grounded or rerouted due to safety concerns. On Thursday, an IndiGo flight from Nagpur to Kolkata had to make an emergency landing in Raipur following a fake bomb threat. In response to the rising number of such incidents, the federal government has directed social media platforms to curb the spread of misinformation, warning of potential penalties if they fail to comply. Security agencies remain on high alert as they address these threats.