Divorced twice, 'mentally unsound' techie claims bomb planted in Vidhana Soudha

Jobless, divorced and depressed, a 41-year-old software professional called up the chief secretary's office on Friday and claimed a bomb had been planted in the Vidhana Soudha, the seat of power in Karnataka.

The phone calls, made around 2:05 PM, appeared a hoax but authorities decided not to take the chance. A police investigation was launched and the caller, identified as Prashanth K V, was traced within hours.

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Prashanth hails from Hosapete and has been living in Hebbagodi, near Electronics City in southern Bengaluru. He was married twice and divorced. He had also quit his job at an IT company and was mentally disturbed, a police officer who's part of the investigation said. "The caller sounded amateur. We took it seriously because the call was made to the chief secretary's office. We later learnt that he had made similar hoax calls at other places," the officer explained.

On Saturday, a local court reminded Prashanth in judicial custody.