Abandoned Japanese Wine Bottle Sends Bengaluru Police into Tizzy

Bengaluru, Jan 15 (IANS) After hours of tension, the Bengaluru police on Friday said a suspicious object thought to be a bomb by a local resident was only an abandoned bottle of Japanese wine.

"We didn't recover anything. It was a package of Japanese wine. The round matka-type bottle must have been consumed and abandoned there, rather than throwing it on the road as it was convenient," Bengaluru Police Commissioner N.S. Megharikh told IANS.

The alarm sounded by an attendant of an uninhabited house who found the "suspicious" object dumped near an electric junction box at Cauvery Junction leading to Sankey Road in the forenoon led to the police force swinging into action.

Two fire tenders, three ambulances, five bomb squads and 100 policemen cordoned off the area imposing a high alert from around 11 a.m. to 1.30 p.m.

"There is something known as standard operating procedures...we are not doing it for fun. First the sniper dogs could not detect anything after which we pressed other services into action," said Megharikh, adding the object contained about five to 10 ml of wine.

With Friday being Makar Sankranti, the usual rush on the roads was missing yet hundreds of curious people thronged the spot.