Security personnel in Fancy Bazar after the bomb scare on Monday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, Sept. 29: An unclaimed sack containing wires and battery cells almost caused a stampede at Fancy Bazar this afternoon when a hawker raised an alarm thinking it to be a bomb.

Police later discovered that the “bombs” were just an elaborate prank, meant to trigger panic.

A hawker first spotted a bag lying abandoned on the pavement in front of New Market.

Curious, he looked into it and found a ball of wires and batteries.

He ran through the market, crying “Bomb, bomb,” prompting people to flee.

Id and Puja shoppers crowding the afternoon market took just seconds to catch on to the “bomb” alert and ran for their lives.

Shopkeepers joined the race out of the market.

“Run, run. Bomb! These words caught my ears as I jostled for space in the market. For a few seconds I did not know what to do and then I started running towards MG Road for safety,” Hemanga Barman, a shopper, said.

As people ran, a youth kicked the bag off the pavement to the street and disappeared before anyone could identify him, a witness said.

“Luckily there was no stampede. Some people did fall down but they were assisted by others to scramble up,” an officer of Panbazar police station later said.

The drama continued for nearly an hour, though the police arrived within 15 minutes with bomb experts, who declared that the bag did not contain explosives.

The additional superintendent of police (city), Debajit Deori, said there was no detonator or explosives found, though the contents of the bag did look like a bomb at first glance.

Three pencil batteries, an electric switch, wires, sand and some powdery substance for manufacturing firecrackers were all that the bag contained.

“Most probably someone kept it there deliberately to spate panic. From preliminary investigation it seems to be the handiwork of some mischief-mongers,” he said.

The police and civil administration are already on high alert in Guwahati following the serial blasts in Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Delhi.

“We are not taking any chances, as an anonymous caller had called up the police control room a few days ago and warned of blasts in several towns of Assam, including Guwahati. Moreover, the army had also said that the seven suspected Huji members gunned down in Dhubri on Friday had plans to join another Huji group in Guwahati and carry out blasts,” a police officer of the special branch said.

In the wake of the country-wide blasts, the police have appealed to civilians to remain vigilant against any suspicious person or object. But they have also warned people of “strong action” if anyone was found spreading rumours.