A police dog sniffs for explosives on the tracks. Picture by Biplab Basak

Siliguri, Nov 29: Twenty-four hours after a bomb scare aboard the Teesta Torsa Express, security agencies went into a tizzy once again today when a hoax caller said an explosive has been kept at the Jalpaiguri Town station.

With security personnel going into a checking spree, sniffer dogs were pressed into service.

Around 3.50 pm today, Proloy Ghosh, an on-duty reservation-cum-booking clerk, posted at Jalpaiguri, received the call.

“The man on the other end spoke in Rajbangshi and said a bomb has been kept at the station and it will explode when the 618 DN passenger train enters the platform,” a nervous Ghosh said.

One of the bogies of the same train was ripped apart at Belakoba last week and the caller had not failed to remind that.

As station master Nripen Chandra Roy and others informed the police, security men rushed to the station, followed by an intensive search of the tracks, platforms and over-bridge.

“Though it seemed to be a hoax call, we could not afford to take a risk. So we started searching the station and tried to trace the caller. Security personnel have been deployed,” said Tapash Das, the additional superintendent of police in Jalpaiguri.

The train reached Jalpaiguri Town half-an-hour after starting from Haldibari. It was searched thoroughly before it left for NJP at 6.30 pm but entered the station at 10.55 because of another bomb scare between NJP and Ambari. This led to the delay in the departure of Darjeeling Mail as well.

“The connecting passenger train arrived late. The Darjeeling Mail left NJP at 11.30 pm today,” said Taraknath Bhattacharjee, the divisional commercial manager and the public relations officer of the Northeast Frontier Railway posted at NJP.