A bomb scare at Nagaland House on Theatre Road sent employees of a bank scurrying for safety on Saturday morning.

“At about 9.30 am, the State Bank of India branch in Nagaland House called us up. An unidentified caller had warned officials there of a bomb planted in the building,” said deputy commissioner of police (south) Kuldip Singh.

“There is a bomb in the building with a timer device, set to go off at 11 am,” warned the caller in Hindi and told the employees to “run for their lives”. A police team rushed to Nagaland House and alerted the bomb disposal squad. After all the employees evacuated the building, police officers entered the building with sniffer dogs. “But nothing was found. The call turned out to be a hoax,” said Singh.

nTrade bandh: Business transactions in several part of the city came to a halt on Saturday in response to the trade bandh called by the Joint Committee of West Bengal Trade Bodies. The strike was called to protest hike in trade licence fees, introduction of value-added tax and other issues.