Bengaluru cops hunt for 'terror' suspect fleeing from metro station

Three teams have been formed to trace a 'terror' suspect who vanished on Tuesday night from the Majestic metro station in the city centre after he was refused entry, a top police official said on Wednesday.

The 5-member teams under Assistant Commissioner of Police Mahant Reddy are on the lookout for the unidentified suspect as he escaped from the Kempe Gowda (Majestic) metro station after he was denied entry to the platform as he was allegedly carrying a suspicious object," Bengaluru Police Commissioner T. Suneel Kumar told reporters here.

Though the suspect in his mid-40s tried to enter the station again from another gate, an alert security guard stopped him after the metal detector gave a beep sound and flashed red light.

"The metal detector signalled that the well-built and stocky suspect had an unusual object tied around his waist and a heavy item in the backpack. When asked to open the bag and raise the kurta he was wearing, he declined, turned around and left the station," Kumar recalled on the basis of the video footage from the closed-circuit television cameras and the guards' narration.

As the guards and the staff of the state-run Bengaluru Metro Rail Transport Corp (BMRTC) were busy screening the commuters at the peak hour rush, they did not detain him for further questioning but let him off as he exited.

"We have put all metro stations, railway stations and bus terminals on high alert since Tuesday night after metro officials reported the incident and shared the CCTV video footage of the suspect wearing a white skull cap and sporting a beard," said Kumar.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Channavar visited the Majestic station on Tuesday night and stepped up vigil in and around it and deployed additional security personnel as around one lakh people use the underground station for commuting on the north-south and east-west corridors.

The city has been on red alert over a fortnight after the terror blasts in Sri Lanka on April 21.

"As we have no information about the suspect or his identity, we are cross-checking with our counterparts in the neighbouring states for details on him or if he came from outside the state," added Kumar.

The city police also circulated the video footage with the suspect's image to all police stations, checkposts, railway stations, bus terminals and airports across the state to prevent him from escaping.IANS