On Tuesday, the Mumbai Police Crime Branch apprehended a 25-year-old IT engineer from Vadodara, Gujarat, identified as Viral Asra, for his involvement in a social media post suggesting a bomb threat at the wedding of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant. The wedding, held on July 12 at Mumbai’s Jio World Convention Centre, witnessed the union of Anant, the youngest son of Mukesh Ambani, with Radhika, daughter of pharmaceutical magnates Viren and Shaila Merchant.

According to police sources, the alert was raised on Saturday night when an anonymous user tagged the Mumbai Police handle, notifying them about a suspicious post from user @ffsfir. The post speculated about significant financial repercussions if a bomb were to detonate at the Ambani wedding venue: “My mind is wondering shamelessly that half the world would go upside down tomorrow after a bomb went off at the Ambani wedding. Trillions of dollars in one pin code.”

Reacting swiftly, Mumbai Police intensified security measures around the event despite considering the threat potentially a hoax. This decision was made due to the high-profile nature of attendees, including celebrities from global entertainment, political figures, and top cricketers. Following the wedding, the Ambani family hosted a ‘Shubh Aashirwad’ ceremony on July 13.

Teams from the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) and the cyber police station (south) launched an investigation and registered an FIR concerning the threat message on Monday night. They traced the IP address linked to the @ffsfir account to Vadodara, leading to the arrest of Viral Asra.

Asra, who initially did not delete his account on the microblogging site X but later removed it after media reports surfaced, clarified to the police that his post was not intended to cause panic or a false alarm. He asserted that he had merely expressed his thoughts on the grandeur of the wedding.

In a related incident, Mumbai Police also dealt with the case of Luqman Mohammad Shafi Shaikh and Venkatesh Narsaiah Aluri, who were detained for allegedly gatecrashing the wedding venue. They were released after receiving police notices.

The Mumbai Police continue to maintain vigilance and security measures amidst ongoing investigations into these incidents surrounding the high-profile Ambani-Merchant wedding.