Bomb hoax at Amitabh Bachchan's residence

Usually thronged by fans, Jalsa, the Juhu bungalow of actor Amitabh Bachchan, had unlikely visitors on Wednesday evening — a Bomb Disposal and Detection Squad (BDDS) team, with sniffer dogs in tow.

The team scoured Bachchan’s residence for a bomb but did not find one. The hoax was the result of an e-mail received by a city news channel, warning of a “bomb” planted at the actor’s bungalow.

The BDDS team, along with the Juhu police, arrived at the superstar’s bungalow around 4.30 pm and returned an hour later.

The e-mail received in the afternoon was sent by a person who identified himself as Pappu Yadav. The management of the news channel then contacted Additional Commissioner of Police (western suburbs) Archana Tyagi.

A police officer, who requested anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media, said the mail warned that Jalsa would be “bombed out”.

Deputy Commissioner of Police V.K. Chaubey, while declining to divulge the contents of the e-mail, said the police were trying to track down the sender and determine the motive, and whether it was “just a prank”.

“The news channel’s management received the warning through an e-mail and they in turn alerted us. We carried out a search of Jalsa; a BDDS team was involved in it as well,” Chaubey said.

Bachchan and wife Jaya, his actor son Abhishek and wife Aishwarya, stay at the bungalow when they are in the city, said sources on condition of anonymity.

Till the death a few years ago of Bachchan’s father, renowned Hindi poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan, the family used to reside at its old bungalow Prateeksha.