Bomb threat at Vashi mall prompts evacuation, turns out to be hoax

Thane: A prominent mall in Vashi area of Navi Mumbai was vacated on Saturday after receiving a bomb threat, which turned out to be a hoax as no suspicious object was found during the search, police said.

The InOrbit mall received an e-mail stating, "Hello there, I planted bombs in the building every person inside the building will be kill (sic)", at around 11:59 AM, a Vashi police station official said.

The mall was immediately evacuated and the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad, ATS officials, Fire Brigade personnel, and police conducted a search with a dog squad, the official said, adding that a bomb or suspicious item was not found.

"The search was called off at around 2:50 PM, following which the mall was reopened for people at around 3 PM," he said.

Police are investigating the source of the e-mail and trying to identify its sender.