Ayesha Sultan, who lost four family members, cries during distribution of compensation in Hyderabad. (PTI)

Hyderabad, Aug. 27: Thirty-six hours after twin blasts rocked the city, hoax calls kept Hyderabad on tenterhooks.

Seven false alarms about the presence of suspicious objects from different parts of the city sent police rushing to the spots while two “mischievous” calls said bombs might go off in the secretariat and at a hotel in Secunderabad.

Chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy was in his chamber when five bomb disposal squads scanned the state secretariat in the morning. Several employees left after the bomb scare on the second floor of a building, and those who stayed behind hurried to wind up before dusk.

Additional forces were deployed around the offices of Reddy and several ministers. The chief minister’s security has been beefed up to 330 personnel.

Many people chose to stay home in response to a bandh call by the BJP and its allies to protest against Saturday evening’s terror attack that killed over 40 people. But ominous text messages on their mobile phones kept them on their toes through the day.

The chief minister reiterated his appeal to residents to stay calm.

The police said they had received intelligence inputs from Delhi last week about a possible attack in one of three cities in the south. “We had drawn up plans to beef up night patrols and also increase police presence in busy commercial districts and popular amusement parks at the earliest,” said police commissioner Balwinder Singh.

The commissioner last night sent a circular to cinemas, amusement parks and other public spots to install metal- and hand-held detectors, failing which their licences would be cancelled.

A special CBI team and an anti-terrorist squad from Mumbai continued combing the blast sites.

The police have arrested four men from the old city following witness accounts that they were in Gokul Chat Bhandar minutes before a bomb went off there.

Bengal seeks details

Bengal has sought details of the blasts from the Andhra government.

Asked if a team is being sent to Hyderabad, director-general of police A.B. Vohra replied in the affirmative. “We want to study the nature of the blasts in Hyderabad and see what we can do to prevent any such incidents in the state.”

However, Raj Kanojia, inspector-general of police, law and order, later said no decision had been taken yet on sending a team to Hyderabad.