AHMEDABAD: Vadodara collectorate received a bomb threat email on Thursday morning, warning that the building would be blown up if it was not evacuated by 1 pm, instantly pushing the city’s security grid into emergency mode.
Upon receiving information, the special operations group of Akota Police, Vadodara Crime Branch, bomb and dog Squads rushed to the spot and sealed off the Collector’s Office and halted public entry. They jointly conducted a search for nearly three hours, but no suspicious or objectionable item was found.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Manjita Vanzara said, “All police teams reached the Collector’s Office immediately after the threatening mail was received, and thorough checks were carried out both inside and outside the premises, but no suspicious or objectionable item was found.”
Following the all-clear, routine work at the Collector’s Office resumed. However, authorities remained on alert, with police continuing surveillance in and around the premises to rule out any delayed or secondary threat.
The threat comes a day after several schools in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Kalol and other locations receive d similar bomb threats.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Vanzara on Thursday said police are examining whether the bomb threat issued to the Vadodara Collector’s Office is linked to the series of hoax bomb emails sent to schools a day earlier.
Confirming the probe, Vanzara said, “An investigation is underway to check any connection with the mails received in Ahmedabad yesterday. Police are analysing similarities in the threats, including timing patterns, to determine if they originated from a single source."
Investigators have noted that the school bomb threats on December 18 were received around 1.11 pm, while the email threatening the Vadodara Collector’s Office arrived at around 1 pm on Thursday. The close timing has heightened suspicion that the sender may be attempting to test the state’s security response by triggering calculated panic across locations.
Officials also recalled that a similar threatening letter had surfaced in Vadodara a few months ago, targeting a reputed school, a private company and the Collector’s Office. That incident, too, ended without the recovery of any explosive material.
Despite repeated hoaxes yielding no physical threat so far, police said the alerts are being taken seriously. Authorities stressed that every threat will be treated as genuine, with cyber teams tracing digital footprints and analysing email trails to identify those responsible for the latest wave of bomb scare messages in Gujarat.