Title - Drunk cook held for bomb threat to railway station

CHENNAI: Government railway police arrested a 'parotta master' (head cook) from a roadside restaurant at Nungambakkam three hours after he made a call to the city police control room on Saturday night and threatened to set off bombs planted at Egmore Railway Station.

While making parottas, Ilayaraja, 35, from Peramballur, took a few minutes off at 9.30pm to call the police control room. He was arrested after the cyber wing of the railway police traced the call to the eatery at Nungambakkam.

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The cyber wing, meanwhile was tracking down the caller. "We checked data and found that the cellphone user made the call from Nungambakkam," railway police inspector-general S Arumugam said. "Policemen zeroed in on a roadside eatery and monitored the shop for an hour. They found that Ilayaraja was using the phone." Ilayaraja told police that he was drunk when he made the call, but police are investigating if he has any links to extremist groups. "He told us that he does not have any connection with terrorist outfits, but he revealed during interrogation that he had made similar calls before," Arumugam said.

"Such pranks have the potential to create panic among passengers," a railway police officer said. "We checked the station thoroughly on Saturday night after we learned about the call. Station staff made announcements to passengers, asking them to inform us if they found abandoned packages or suitcases."

Railway police also used cellphone signals to track down and arrest two men who robbed a commuter of a smartphone while he was walking near the railway tracks in Saidapet on Saturday.