CHANDIGARH: The Himachal Pradesh Police is on high alert after receiving a bomb threat to blow up the office of the Mandi Deputy Commissioner yesterday.
A similar threat was also received at the office of the Himachal Pradesh Chief Secretary, which is located in the secretariat building in Shimla, said sources.
The email referred to his office mentioned that something is going to happen in Tamil Nadu, and the timing to execute the threat in Himachal Pradesh would be adjusted accordingly.
Speaking about the bomb threat, Himachal Pradesh Chief Secretary, Prabodh Saxena, said, two threat mails were received on Wednesday, one at his office in Shimla and the other at the deputy commissioner’s (DC) office in Mandi.
"The origin of both the emails is being traced and if necessary, help would be sought from the central agencies to arrest the accused. Both offices were vacated and sanitised. While nothing suspicious has been found so far, the authorities have been put on high alert,’’ he said.
Saxena further said that security has been strengthened at both places. "Similar threats were received by some schools and airlines in the recent past, but fortunately nothing untoward happened,’’ he added.
In Shimla, the state secretariat premises were immediately sanitised, and security measures have been significantly reinforced.
Also, access to the secretariat is now restricted, and all people entering the secretariat building are being checked. While the employees at the DC office in Mandi were allowed to work today after security checks, an appeal has been made to the public not to visit the office premises unless they have some urgent work.
Superintendent of Police of Mandi, Sakshi Verma, said the Deputy Commissioner's Office was cleared after teams from the bomb disposal squad, CISF, dog squad, and three police teams from Mandi, Kullu and Bilaspur thoroughly checked the premises.
Sources said that the police and intelligence agencies are currently working to trace the origin of the threatening emails, which were reportedly sent from a Gmail account. In the meantime, security has been intensified at all major government buildings across the state.