PLAYING PRANKS

Let’s dial 100 and have some fun

That’s what a 10-year-old boy told his friends before calling the police controls to say there was a bomb on a train

Ten-year-old Vasant Matkar’s (name changed) idea of fun is making bomb hoax calls to the police.
“It does not cost a rupee to dial 100 and we will have lot of fun,” Matkar told his friends before dialling the number around 9pm on Thursday.
“I am Vasant Matakr and there is a bomb in a train in Bandra. It will blast in two minutes! Evacuate all the police in hindi before going to play with his friends near a phone booth. Failing to realise the gravity of the situation, the child proudly announced his ‘feat’ to all his neighbours, who now refer to him as the ‘bomb blast’ boy of Golibar.
Vasant Matkar was spotted by the Vakola police near Metro Chawl in Golibar, Santacriz (E) from where the call was made. However, the child was let off with a warning.
“He is so innocent that he didn’t even think of running away from that place after making the call. We found him playing near the phone booth. We haven’t booked him,” said senior police Inspector Uttam Nawghare of Vakola police station.
Till Thursday night, this 3 rd std student of a missionary school in Santacruz (W), was unapologetic about his adventure. But on Friday, he told Mid Day sheepishly, “I called 100 to tell them about the bomb. But I didn’t want to harm anyone.”
His family believes that continuous announcements on television channels about dialling 100 in case of emergency probably gave Vasant the idea of dialling the control room. His uncle Nagesh (28) said that his parents had to disconnect the landline because Vasant had been making random calls to people.
His aunt Kavita (23) recalled that she found him missing from the study around 8.50 pm. “ Vasant had come back from his tuition class and after some time,left home. Apparently, in his tuition class, Vasant had come up with the idea and asked his friends to join him. He had also told his cousin Rahul (13) that he was going to make a call to the police. Since we elders knew nothing about this, we couldn’t stop him,” she said.

Playing Pranks : After making the call, Vasant Matakr continued playing with his friends, near the phone booth in Golibar, Santacruz (E). his face has been blurred to protect the boy’s identity.