By Express News Service

ERODE: He married twice, but both his wives eloped. He had a job, but he quit as it was highly stressful. Finally, it came to a point where he had no place to stay and no food to eat. Then, R Santhosh Kumar decided the best way to get free food and lodging is by going to jail. The result of that decision was a bomb threat to the Erode Railway Station.

Around 5pm, Sunday, the railway police control room in Chennai received a call. In keeping with stereotypes on terrorism, the caller identified himself as ‘Ibrahim’. The caller said a bomb had been planted at the Erode station and would go off shortly. A little later, the police control room received a similar call about bombs being planted at the Erode bus stand.

The police swung into action. Bomb squads rushed to the bus stand and railway station. Meanwhile, police tracked down the address of the mobile from which the call came. Records said the number belonged to one M Sivakumar from Karungalpalayam. Police swooped down and detained the man. He claimed to have given his phone to his brother-in-law, S Lingaraj. Then Lingaraj was held, who said his phone was stolen two days back. Searches continued. Around 2am, Monday, police found a man sleeping at the railway station.

Smelling something fishy, they took him into custody. He identified himself as R Santhosh Kumar of Mettupalayam. They checked his phone and found out that he had made multiple calls to control room.

It dawned much later that all of this, even the arrest, was part of an elaborate plan sketched by Santhosh Kumar himself. He told police that he was married twice, but both his wives abandoned him. He was working with a mill in Mettupalayam, but did not like the job. Santhosh was depressed.

On October 31, he called it quits and moved to Erode. As he had no home or food, he decided the best way to secure both was to go to jail. On November 1, he stole the mobile phone from Lingaraj, and made hoax calls. It worked. Santhosh Kumar is now under arrest.