-- Samir Umarye BICHOLIM, OCT 3 – A 10-year-old lad's prank sent Bicholim police on high alert on Thursday morning. According to Bicholim police, the Std 5 student of Progress High School, Sanquelim, called up the police on the emergency number (100) at about 10 am to state that a bomb had exploded at Sanquelim. The call had been made from an STD booth at the Sanquelim bus stand. Incidentally, the STD booth owner heard the conversation and asked the boy to wait at the shop. "The shopkeeper then called us as he thought that the lad may have had more information regarding the explosion," police told Herald. Police rushed to the bus stand and met the boy, a native of Bihar but residing at Sanquelim, only to learn that he had made a hoax call. To mark Gandhi Jayanti celebrations, the school had organized a function, which had ended earlier in the day. On his return home, the boy went to the bus stand and decided to play a prank on the police. "After he was brought to the police station, the boy told us that it was just a joke and that, he had called up the emergency number after watching television and hearing about explosions in several parts of the country," said a police officer. The police then summoned the boy's parents and cautioned them on the implications of misleading the police.
