Bomb hoax at 44 schools causes chaos

POLICE SAID THEY WERE UNABLE TO ESTABLISH THE IDENTITY OF THOSE WHO CREATED THE EMAIL IDS FROM WHICH THREATS WERE SENT

- Hemani Bhandari and Aheli Das

NEW DELHI: At least 44 schools across Delhi received an email warning that explosives had been placed at their premises, resulting in panic and confusion on Monday morning as the institutes hurriedly evacuated thousands of alarmed students midway through their classes, even as security forces launched sweeping checks across dozens of campuses.

The Delhi Police said the emails were declared a hoax by Monday afternoon after search operations yielded no incendiary devices. However, police still cranked up security across the Capital, setting up cordons and keeping emergency response vans on standby outside major schools. "A thorough cordon and search operation was carried out by local police, bomb disposal squad and dog squad. Each and every class, nook and corner of the schools were checked before the email was declared a hoax," a senior officer said.

This is the second time that Delhi's schools received a bomb threat via mass email - before this, more than 250 schools across NCR were threatened with explosives on May 1, which too was declared a hoax.

To be sure, there are at least five other occasions over the last two years when schools in Delhi received a bomb threat that were later declared a hoax. However, those emails were sent to individual schools, and not sent as a mass email.

None of these cases has been solved as of now.

Speaking about the latest threat email, Delhi Police spokesperson and ACP Sanjay Kumar Tyagi said the email was sent late on Sunday night, but schools reported the threat only early on Monday morning. Tyagi said police visited the schools and ensured the safety and security of the students and staff.

The email in question was sent by a Gmail ID, and demanded $30,000 for not detonating the "bomb", officers said.

"Teams are working on reaching the source of the email, and the sender...," Tyagi said.