61-year-old ‘mentally disturbed’ man held for threat call to Mantralaya

MUMBAI: A 61-year-old ‘mentally disturbed’ man has been arrested for allegedly making a hoax call claiming that there would be a terror attack on Mantralaya, according to Kandivali police.

The police, who arrested the accused — Prakash Kishan Khemani— late on Monday, said that he appears to be mentally disturbed and often calls police control room to threaten restaurant owners if they refuse to give him food.

Khemani, who is unemployed and lives alone in Kandivali, had called the landline of the state’s administrative headquarters at 10pm on Monday claiming he had connections with terrorists and was going to be a part of their attack to be carried out in a day or two.

The Mantralaya employees informed the police, who then traced the call to Kandivali. The Kandivali police then registered a case against the unidentified caller.

Tracing the mobile number, the police officials reached Khemani within an hour of the call on Monday night and arrested him. On Tuesday, he was produced before a court which remanded him in judicial custody.

“Khemani appears to be mentally disturbed. We learnt from the restaurant owners that Khemani often threatens them that he will call the police and report them if they refuse to give him food,” said Sandip Vishwasrao, senior police inspector of Kandivali police station.

The neighbours of his building also said that he is a hoarder and often collects wastepaper and other material from the road. Vishwasrao added that Khemani’s family has abandoned him.

The police are now trying to find out how he got the landline number of Mantralaya and why he called there instead of the police control room.

“There already is an assault case and an arson case registered against Khemani at Kandivali police station. We have seized the mobile phone from which he made the hoax call,” said Vishwasrao.