Ludhiana: Police evacuate Hyatt Regency hotel following hoax bomb threat

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Ludhiana, December 27

A hoax bomb threat at Hyatt Regency hotel in Ludhiana put the city police officials on toes. A man from Delhi had reportedly sent separate messages on the social media handle of Hyatt hotels at Ludhiana, Bombay, Dharmasala and Goa that hotels will be blown with bomb on January 1, 2023.

Police had to vacate the hotel to comb the entire premises but no bomb was recovered. Matter became serious for the police because most VIPs, Bollywood celebrities, politicians and prominent people stay at this hotel.

As soon as police got to know about the bomb threat, senior police officials led by Joint CP Saumya Mishra, DCP Crime Varinder Singh Brar, Additional DCPs Sameer Verma, Rupinder Sran, Tushar Gupta along with the bomb disposal squad and sniffer dogs immediately rushed to the hotel.

As per the information, bomb threat message was received at the Ludhiana hotel in the afternoon. Hotel management immediately conveyed it to the police. As a precautionary measure, police vacated the entire hotel and didn’t even allow new visitors to enter the hotel till the time search was going on.

Some visitors, including NRIs, also had arguments with the hotel staff as they were not allowed to enter the hotel.

Joint Commissioner Saumya Mishra said on the basis of the mobile number of the person who sent threat message, the accused was arrested by the Delhi police and his questioning was on. Even a team of Ludhiana police would also reach Delhi for probe.

DCP Crime Varinder Brar said Ludhiana police had identified the exact address of the alleged person and after detail was shared with the Delhi police, they immediately apprehended the accused.  

Police said as per the preliminary probe, the accused person appears to be mentally unstable.