Nanjangud: Nanjangud Police have arrested a former employee of Rajshil Paper Private Limited for making a hoax bomb call to the Paper Mill yesterday morning.

The arrested is 38-year-old Shibu, a former employee of the Paper Mill and a native of Tamil Nadu. He was arrested yesterday evening from a house at Giridarshini Layout in Mysuru.

Shibu, who called on the Managing Director’s cell phone at about 9.12 am yesterday, spoke to him in Tamil and told him that a bomb has been planted at the factory. He then demanded Rs. 35 lakh from the Managing Director (MD), failing which he threatened of exploding the bomb at 10 am. When the MD asked him where he has to bring the money, the caller disconnected the call and switched off the mobile phone.

Panicked, the MD stopped the production at the factory, asked the employees to leave the premises and called Nanjangud Police, who passed on the message to the district headquarters. 

Bomb Squad and Dog Squad were summoned from Mysuru and Police teams from Kadakola and Mysuru South were pressed into service. After a three hour-long search, no bomb was found in the Paper Mill and the Police concluded it as a hoax call.

Nanjangud Police, who had registered a case, began to trace the number from which the call was made to the Paper Mill’s MD cell phone and traced the call to Giridarshini Layout in Mysuru and arrested Shibu.

Police said that Shibu had worked at the Paper Mill for six years and as he was addicted to liquor, he had quit the job.