Mumbai — A bomb threat targeting Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), one of India's busiest railway stations, triggered a major security operation on Saturday evening and was declared a hoax after a search lasting about three hours found nothing suspicious, officials said in reports carried by IANS and PTI-based outlets.

Officials said the threat call was received on Saturday evening — the Government Railway Police control room at Wadi Bunder was contacted at around 6.40 pm, while other official accounts put a call to the 112 emergency helpline at around 6.50 pm — with the caller claiming that a bomb had been planted at the station.

Personnel of the Government Railway Police (GRP), the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Mumbai Police, along with a Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) and an RPF dog squad, searched the entire premises, including suburban and long-distance platforms, foot overbridges, the parcel section and trains, officials said.

Search ends with all-clear

The search concluded at around 9.30 pm. No suspicious person, explosive material or unclaimed object was found on the station premises or inside any train, officials said, and the alert was officially declared a hoax.

Central Railway chief spokesperson Swapnil Nila confirmed that train operations at the station remained unaffected throughout the search, according to Mirror Now's report of his statement.

Caller being traced

The railway police have reported the incident to the main control room, and efforts are under way to locate and identify the person who made the threatening call, officials said. The caller's identity had not been established in the initial reports.

Reports noted that the CSMT call came in a week in which Mumbai had already seen a series of hoax threat messages targeting other prominent locations, which police are also investigating. Further details in the CSMT case are awaited.