Panic was triggered in the heart of national capital New Delhi on Monday after police received an anonymous call threatening to blow up a multi-storeyed building, which later turned out to be a hoax.
Police received a call at around 8:15 am that explosives were placed at New Delhi House building on Barakhamba road, a stone's throw away from the spot where a bomb exploded on Saturday evening.
The 12-storeyed building houses several offices where around 1,000 people report for work everyday.
The 'Rashtriya Sahara' office in the New Delhi House building on Barakhamba Road in Connaught Place, received a call that the structure would be blown up.
Police was immediately informed and bomb disposal squads were rushed to the spot and a search conducted for about two hours.
"We did not find anything and the call has been declared a hoax," a senior police official said.
People present in the building, which houses several offices including those of Oil Industry Safety Directorate, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur and some media organisations, were immediately evacuated.
A case has been registered and the caller was being identified.
"I came to office at around 8.30 am, but was not allowed to go inside as people said there was a bomb in the building. It created panic," said A K Singh, an employee of Reliance Energy, which has an office in the building.
A large number of office-goers were seen standing around the busy Barakhamba road intersection.
Police have received at least five hoax bomb calls so far since the Saturday blasts in the national capital, which claimed over 20 lives.
On Saturday night, two calls were received that bombs had been placed in Merina Hotel and on Parliament Street.
Two more calls were received from Madhuban Chowk and Paschim Vihar on Sunday but searches did not yield anything.
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