NEW DELHI: Around 30 schools in Delhi received bomb threats via e-mail in the early hourly hours of Friday, triggering a massive multi-agency search across the city, officials said.
However, despite the intense investigation by the police, fire services, and bomb detection teams, no suspicious devices were found. According to police, investigations so far have established that the email was sent from abroad. “Around 30 schools across the city had received such e-mails,” said a senior police official.
The e-mails, which were sent around 12:54 am, warned of potential bomb blasts on Friday and Saturday.
“The threats also mentioned events like parent-teacher meetings and sports day activities, designed to create fear and panic among students, parents and school authorities,” the official added.
Notably, this comes just days after similar threats were received by at least 44 schools on December 9, which were later declared hoaxes by the police.
The authorities are yet to identify any suspects or track down the source of the threats, which were reportedly sent from abroad. Schools targeted in this latest incident include Bhatnagar International School, Cambridge School, DPS Amar Colony and Venkateshwar Global School, among others. As a precaution, school managements issued urgent messages advising parents not to send their children to school or to immediately retrieve them if they had already arrived.
“The fire department had received calls (regarding the threat emails) from Bhatnagar International School in Paschim Vihar (4:21 am), Cambridge School in Shri Niwas Puri (6:23 am), DPS Amar Colony in East of Kailash (6:35 am), Delhi Public School in Defence Colony (7.57 am), Delhi Police Public School in Safdarjung (8.02 am) and Venkateshwar Global School in Rohini (8.30 am),” said a senior Delhi Fire Service (DFS) official.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police’s Special Cell has filed a case of criminal intimidation and conspiracy, though investigations remain ongoing. Cops are combing through the emails, which describe the presence of explosives on the premises.
This alarming trend of hoax bomb threats has drawn sharp criticism from political leaders, with former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal highlighting the toll these threats take on children’s safety and well-being.
The AAP supremo, who had hit out at the Delhi Police and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on December 9 over the bomb threats that were received on that day, shared a news clip about the latest threats on his official X handle.
“This is the second time this week that Delhi schools have received bomb threats, which is extremely serious and worrying. If this continues, how badly will it affect the children? What will happen to their studies?” he said in a post on the microblogging platform.
Likewise in May, more than 250 schools, hospitals and other installations had received similar e-mail threats, which are yet to solved.