Unclaimed bags create panic outside BJP headquarters

NEW DELHI: Three unclaimed bags found outside the BJP headquarters on Ashoka Road here this morning triggered panic in the area although it later turned out to be a false alarm as nothing incriminating was found in any of them.

Police got a call about the bags around 7:40 AM following which a bomb squad and dog squad were rushed to the spot.

Investigators found nothing suspicious in the bags. In the meantime, a couple identified as Sandhya Mangal Murthy and her husband Surjeet Narayan Goswami, residents of Chattarpur area in South Delhi reached the spot and said the bag belonged to them.

"The couple had kept the bag at the BJP Headquarters and had gone to the nearby Andhra Bhavan to have some food. Meanwhile, somebody made a PCR call about the unclaimed bags," Additional Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) SBS Tyagi said.

Murthy originally hails from Seemandhra while her husband is from Uttaranchal. The two are post graduates but are jobless, they also didn't have a house to live in. They had reached the BJP headquarters around 7:15 AM for redressal of their grievances and wanted to meet somebody for job, he said.

Both of them were taken to Parliament Street Police Station and a joint interrogation was done but nothing suspicious was found. Police also verified their antecedents.

The couple was allowed to go after they were found clean after a thorough investigation, police said.

As the incident took place hours before a crucial Parliamentary Board meeting of the BJP where Amit Shah was appointed as its new president, security agencies were sent into a tizzy soon after the call.