BENGALURU: A threat email demanding a ransom of $2.5 million, failing which there will be explosions in hotels, temples, trains and prominent public places across Karnataka was sent to the chief minister, deputy chief minister, home minister, Bengaluru city police commissioner and some IPS officers on March 2, a day after the IED blast at The Rameshwaram Cafe at Kundalahalli in the city.
Shivakumar told reporters, “We received a threat mail two-three days ago, but we did not disclose it. We have asked the police to investigate it. The mail from the ID ‘Shahidkhan10786’ threatened to plant bombs in temples, hotels, buses and trains if a ransom of 2.5 million USD is not paid. He has threatened to plant a bomb in the Ambari Utsav bus if the demand is not met. We don’t know if it is a hoax email threat.”
The email was sent by a person identified as Shahid Khan from a suspected proxy ID, Shahidkhan10786@protonmail.com, around 2.48 pm.
The email with subheads “Alert 01” and “Alert 02” stated, “What are your thoughts on the movie trailer? If you don’t provide us with 2.5 million dollars, we will cause large explosions on buses, trains, taxis, temples, hotels, and public areas throughout Karnataka. We want to show you one more trailer. We are going to explode the next one in the Ambari Utsav bus. After the Ambari Utsav bus blast, we will raise our demands on social media. And will upload screenshots of the mail sent to you on social media. We will tweet information about the next explosion.”
Shivakumar said, "We don't know whether it is bogus, fraud, true, false or blackmailer. We have sent it to our police officers. They are on the job."
The cybercrime police have registered a suo motu case under the provisions of the Information Technology Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on Monday around 5.30 pm. Efforts are on to trace the source of the email.
