Mehdi Effect: Cops ask private security agencies to increase vigilance in malls and cafes

BENGALURU: The city police is taking stock of security around vital installations and crowded locations after the virtual world was abuzz with rumours of a terrorist attack in Bengaluru and a Sydney-like hostage crisis.

Police teams on Tuesday visited Namma Metro stations, the city railway station, bus stands, city market, Manipal Centre and the Indian Institute of Science as part of a security audit. Deputy commissioners heading seven police divisions of the city have been asked to stay alert.

Following last week’s arrest of Mehdi Masroor Biswas, the handler of the pro-IS Twitter account @ShamiWitness, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Abhishek Goyal – who is leading the investigation – has received a tweet warning that the arrest would be avenged. This was followed by numerous Twitter handles bearing ShamiWitness in their names. On Monday, a parody Twitter account ISIS State Media (@ISIS_Med) warned of a hostage situation in Bengaluru.

Another message doing the rounds claims that terrorists would attack prime areas such as Rajajinagar, Vijayanagar, Jayanagar, Koramangala and the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

City Police Commissioner M N Reddi, who issued a statement on Monday brushing off the hostage threat, dismissed on Tuesday the threat of a terrorist attack. “The message is baseless and utterly false. There is absolutely no threat... There are no inputs from intelligence agencies regarding this,” Reddi said, urging citizens to carry on with their business.

Despite Reddi’s assurances, there was a visible police presence on the ground. Even Reddi’s office premises on Infantry Road was on high alert, with policemen disallowing entry even to media vehicles.

Cyber cafes too came under scrutiny since Monday night. Three internet parlours were booked for violation of rules laid down under the Information Technology Act. “The Act mandates that cyber cafes record details of customers and that their ID cards be checked. Many aren’t following this. This will help us track offenders who send threat messages through cyber cafes,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Sandeep Patil said.

Private security agencies in shopping malls, popular cafes and other locations have been briefed by the cops on security arrangements and they have been asked to report any suspicious activities to the police control room.

“Wherever there were lapses, we advised the security agencies to fix them. We obviously cannot reveal the names of these locations for security concerns,” Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Alok Kumar told ET.

Meanwhile, on the investigation front, the police -- with Twitter's help -- downloaded 1.2 lakh tweets from Mehdi's account besides getting the entire list of followers. DCP (Crime) Abhishek Goyal said, “Investigation is progressing at a good pace and there are a lot of new things to learn. But no spectacular results are expected quickly. And there are no further arrests as of now.”