BHOPAL: Two bomb threats in one day, kept the Madhya Pradesh police and Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel on their toes in the central Indian state on Tuesday.
While the Mumbai-bound Ballia-Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) Kamayani Express was checked for around two hours by the bomb detection and disposal squad (BDDS) personnel of the state police at Bina railway station of Sagar district, around 250 km away in Jabalpur district, another bomb scare kept the BDDS team of local police busy at a prominent English medium private school in Ranjhi area.
In Bina town of Sagar district of Bundelkhand region, the long-distance Kamayani Express train, which was already running late by around 4-5 hours was stopped and searched thoroughly for the presence of any explosive, following a call alerting about a bomb on the train, which finally turned out to be a hoax call.
According to a senior police officer in Sagar district, the search which started at around noon, continued for over two hours, after which the train left for its further journey.
“Already the stations are currently chock-a-block with heavy crowds going towards and returning from the Prayagraj Mahakumbh. It cannot be ruled out that the call might have been made possibly with the intention to spread panic, which may have led to some untoward incident in the crowd on the train and at the station. We’re conducting detailed and in-depth investigations in the matter,” a senior police officer in Sagar district told TNIE.
Around 250 km away in Jabalpur district, students were evacuated from a prominent English medium private school in the Ranjhi area, following an e-mail to the school, alerting them about a bomb in the school campus.
The local police’s BDDS team was pressed into action, but after extensive search, nothing incriminating was found to suggest the presence of any explosive/bomb in the sprawling school campus.
“Ongoing investigations suggest that the mail informing about a bomb in the school was sent from Southern India and a phone number mentioned in that mail too pertained to someone based around Karnataka. We’re trying to get deeper into the case and track the real culprit and the actual intention behind the mail,” Jabalpur district police superintendent Sampat Upadhyaya told TNIE.
Importantly, just a few days back, similar mails were received in MP’s most populated city Indore, about the presence of bombs in the campuses of two prominent private schools, after which students of both schools were evacuated.
Even in Indore, the mails informing about the presence of bombs were made from Southern India, just like the mail sent to the private school in Jabalpur district on Tuesday.