Mumbai has had another sleepless night. On Saturday, panic broke out at Nair Hospital in Mumbai Central after the dean received a late-night email claiming that a bomb had been planted inside the premises. The mail landed around 11 pm, and within minutes the hospital was swarming with police and security personnel.
The Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) searched every floor, every corner. Doctors, patients, and staff watched nervously as officers went about their job. Hours later, the tension eased nothing suspicious was found. Another hoax, but not something anyone could ignore.
“We just can’t afford to relax”
One officer involved in the operation told me, “Even if ninety-nine out of a hundred threats are fake, that one real one is enough to destroy lives. That’s why we run every check as if it’s the real deal.”
It’s not hard to understand his frustration. This latest scare came barely 48 hours after a chilling call shook the city.
The ‘34 human bombs’ claim
On Friday, Mumbai’s traffic control helpline received a bizarre call. The caller claimed that 34 “human bombs” carrying 400 kilos of RDX were planted across the city. He even threatened that the explosions would kill a crore people.
The name dropped during the call? A shadowy group calling itself “Lashkar-e-Jihadi.”
The timing couldn’t have been worse. Ganesh Chaturthi immersions were underway, lakhs of people were out on the streets, and the police had to act fast. More than 21,000 officers were deployed across the city. Vehicles were checked, drones kept watch, and tension hung in the air.
And yet, nothing turned up. The call too was fake. Later, investigators tracked it to Noida and arrested a 51-year-old astrologer who, bizarrely, had been trying to frame his friend.
Hoaxes piling up, fear piling higher
For Mumbai, these fake alarms are becoming a troubling routine. Just last week, a man in Thane was caught for spreading a false bomb scare about Kalwa railway station. In August, an email threatened Girgaon’s ISKCON temple. Before that, Terminal 2 of the international airport was targeted by another fake warning.
Each time, the city goes into high alert. Police spend nights combing through buildings, passengers and commuters are delayed, and ordinary people are left rattled.
As one hospital staffer at Nair told me quietly after things calmed down, “Even if it’s fake, for us it’s real until proven otherwise. Patients were scared, families were calling, everyone was on edge.”
The bigger problem
These hoaxes might sound like pranks, but the damage is serious. They drain resources, create panic, and risk making people numb to warnings. Security experts worry that if citizens begin to assume every threat is fake, the day a real one comes, the response could be slower.
A retired commissioner put it bluntly: “Mumbai has scars from 26/11. We can’t treat any threat lightly. But pranksters know this and exploit it.”
What next?
Police have now registered a case regarding the Nair Hospital email and are working with cyber teams to trace the source. Officials hinted at stricter punishments under cybercrime laws to discourage repeat offenders.
For the city though, the anxiety lingers. Mumbai is used to chaos, but when words like “bomb” and “RDX” pop up, no one breathes easy until the danger is cleared.
And as Saturday night showed, even when nothing is found, the fear is very real.