TAJ MAHAL PALACE IN MUMBAI ON ALERT

MUMBAI:The Mumbai Police has beefed up its security detail at two Taj properties -- Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel at Colaba and Taj Lands End at Bandra (West) – after a caller, who purportedly identified himself to be a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative from Pakistan, threatened the hotel authorities at around 12.30am on Tuesday.

Two separate calls were made to the hotels, when earlier on Monday four security personnel of Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi were gunned down by four terrorists.

A Mumbai Police official, requesting anonymity, said that the hotel authorities received the threat calls and security has been intensified at the properties. Quick Reaction Teams (QRTs), counter-terrorism units, etc; have been deployed at both the hotels.

Police said that the first threat call was made at around 12.30am on Tuesday to the Colaba property that was attended to by a hotel employee.

The caller issued a threat of blowing up the hotel in a similar manner to November 26, 2008, carnage, where nine LeT operatives had laid siege to the property, which went on for over 60 hours and claimed scores of innocent tourists, guests, and hotel employees’ lives.

Later, a similar call was made to the Bandra (West) property.

Both the calls were made from a single number, which is being investigated by a team of cyber cell officials, Mumbai Police authorities said.

Both the hotels are shut because of the raging coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak but security has been beefed up to prevent any untoward incident, said a Mumbai Police official, who didn’t wish to be named. Mumbai Police has intensified its patrolling across the city and also stepped up its vigil at all the vital installations following the threat calls.

PTI ■ Police barricades outside the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai after the hotel received a call warning of a possible terror attack from a man who identified himself to be an LeT militant.