Three 'suspicious' bags were recovered in new Delhi capital on Monday - one from outside an army hospital and two from crowded city markets, police said.
An unclaimed laptop bag found near an army hospital in New Delhi on Monday sparked security alert and sent securitymen into a tizzy with reports of abandoned vehicles in two separate incidents.
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The laptop bag was found near the Army Research and Referral Hospital in Dhaula Kuan locality of South West Delhi.
Police said they got a call at around 3.30 PM that two youth in a motorcycle dropped the bag. Both sniffer dogs and the army's bomb disposal squad were pressed into service.
The cops said since the checks found something suspicious, Army's 202 Bomb Squad destroyed the suspicious bag outside the hospital at 5.20 PM.
They added that teams from NSG and Delhi Police's Special Cell also went to the spot immediately after getting a call in this regard.
The sniffer dogs could not clearly establish whether it contained explosives or not, police said.
The entire area was cordoned off and the army's bomb disposal squad then used a controlled explosion to open the bag, police said adding some bricks and loose wires of laptop were recovered from it.
Another incident was reported from bustling M-Block market of posh Greater Kailash in South Delhi over a motorcycle parked near a cigarette vendor.
Repeated announcements made on the Public Address System for the bike's failed to elicit a response, prompting the authorities to call for a bomb disposal squad.
Another call was also reported from a West Delhi locality, which police said turned out to be hoax.
Officials said the bags seized from two south Delhi markets were harmless. However, they were waiting for forensic reports before concluding if any explosive device was present in the bag found near the Base Hospital in Delhi Cantonment around 2.50 p.m.
"We are yet to ascertain if there is any bomb inside the bag," said Additional Commissioner of Police Anil Kumar Ojha.
"A National Security Guard team and Central Forensic Science Laboratory team reached the spot and handled the bag. Before getting the forensic report, we can't say that there was any explosive device in the bag," added Ojha.
Initial inquiry suggested that a youth threw a bag near the army hospital in the afternoon and fled on a bike, said a police officer.
Ojha said another abandoned bag was found in the cantonment's Gopinath Market around 3 p.m. but it was found to be carrying papers.
The third suspicion-evoking bag was found on a motorcycle in south Delhi's Greater Kailash-I area around 5.30 p.m.
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