Indian media is reporting 25-year-old Prasad Navaneeth, formerly a senior associate at BDO USA’s growing India office BDO RISE, was detained for making a hoax bomb threat targeting his office at the RMZ Ecospace tech park in Bellandur. Several articles state that he’d been told to resign due to poor performance and that he refutes this claim, citing ‘office politics’ as the reason for his forced departure.
On Tuesday, Navaneeth called the office landline and asked to speak with one of the senior employees, the police said. After his request was turned down, he called about seven-eight times from his personal mobile number. When company officials refused to speak with him, he reportedly said that he had planted a bomb in the office and it would explode in the next few minutes. The firm immediately informed the Bellandur police.
The police then rushed to the spot with a dog squad and about 500 employees were evacuated from the building. After a thorough check, it was found that the bomb threat was a hoax. Navaneeth was detained within the next hour as he had revealed his details in the calls and also shared his address.
“He is mentally disturbed as the office had decided to sack him. On Tuesday, he did not go to the office as he learnt that he would be terminated and made several calls,” said a police officer quoted in The Indian Express.
A LinkedIn profile indicates he may have worked in US Tax.
Accounting professors can be a strange lot. This is known. Whether they’re 