(Lead)

Chandigarh, March 19 (IANS) A bomb threat at the civil secretariat of the Chandigarh union territory (UT) that forced the evacuation of employees Wednesday turned out to be a hoax. Station house officer (SHO) of the sector-3 police station Ram Gopal told IANS that the UT advisor’s office had received a phone call around Wednesday noon, informing of a bomb in the multi-storey premises.

Advisor to the UT administrator Pradeep Mehra was present in his office when the call was received. The police immediately evacuated the building and launched a search operation.

“It was a hoax call,” said Ram Gopal. “All employees were asked to get back to the office,” he said.

According to the police, the caller was a woman. However, the call was yet to be traced.