Around 40 schools in Delhi received bomb threats via email on Monday morning, leading to students and staff members being immediately evacuated, PTI reported.
An unidentified police officer said that nothing suspicious had been found as of 9.30 am. Further search operations were underway, the officer added.
As per reports, a single email with a bomb threat was sent to several schools in the national capital, including Delhi Public School RK Puram, GD Goenka, The British School, The Mother’s International, Modern School, Delhi Public School Vasant Kunj, Delhi Police Public School, Delhi Public School East of Kailash and Salwan Public Schools, among others.
The email, which was sent at 11.38 pm on Sunday, claimed that bombs were placed in the schools. The senders also demanded $30,000, or over Rs 25.4 lakh, in ransom.
An unidentified Delhi Fire Service official said that the first email was reported at 6.15 am by GD Goenka in Paschim Vihar, followed by a call from Delhi Public School RK Puram at 7 am.
After the threats came to light, bomb detection teams, fire officials, local police and dog squads conducted searches at the schools.
Students and staff were evacuated, and the schools were temporarily closed for investigation, The Indian Express reported.
Cybercrime teams were working to trace the sender of the email, the newspaper quoted unidentified officials as saying.
Commenting on the bomb threats, Chief Minister Atishi alleged that the law and order situation in Delhi had worsened like never before.
“After the daily incidents of ransom, murders, firing in Delhi, now threats of bombing of schools are being received,” Atishi said on social media. “…The BJP-ruled central government has failed in its only task of providing security to the people of Delhi.”
Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal said that Union Home Minister Amit Shah was answerable to the people of Delhi for “law and order being in such a bad state”.
The threat on Monday came months after a similar bomb threat was issued to around 100 schools in Delhi in May. The police later said that the threat was a hoax.
The Delhi airport and hospitals also received bomb threat emails over the past few months. In August, emails were sent to over 100 hospitals and malls in Delhi. All of them turned out to be a hoax.
Last month, the Delhi High Court directed the Delhi government and police to create a Standard Operating Procedure for handling such emergencies.
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