Security personnel stand guard outside the Grand Starline Hotel in Guwahati following the hoax call on Saturday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, Feb. 21: Security forces carried out a thorough search at Grand Starline Hotel on the busy Guwahati-Shillong Road for over three hours this morning following a call claiming that a bomb had been planted there.

A special bomb squad along with sniffer dogs rushed to the hotel. Fire tenders were kept as a standby.

The call was made to the reception desk of the hotel around 10am. The caller disconnected the line when the clerk said he would transfer the call to the management staff.

A member of the hotel management said the police were informed immediately. There were few guests at the hotel at the time of security check since most of them were corporate customers and had gone out for the day. “We however informed them about the incident,” he added.

A police official said the entire hotel was thoroughly checked but no bomb was found.

“The call was made from a mobile phone and we are trying to track the caller,” he added.

“The entire building, from the parking lot, the kitchen and each and every room of the Grand Starline Hotel was thoroughly checked before allowing the hotel management to take over,” he said.

This is the second such incident in the city where unidentified callers made claims of bombs being planted in buildings.

A few months ago, a caller had informed the police that the Ganesh Mandir located in Ganeshguri would be blown up. The mandir was closed down for a day after the call. A permanent police picket has been posted in the area since.

In the Ganesh Mandir case, the caller switched off the mobile phone after making the call, the police said.

A police official said although these claims often turned out to be hoax calls, they never take any chances.