Fire tenders, bomb squads scrambled after principals get emails threatening to blow up schools; worried parents rush to pick up children; emails found to be hoax, meant to create panic: police; Special Cell probing all angles, including terror
Emails threatening to blow up private schools in Delhi and Noida on Wednesday morning sent security agencies into a tizzy and caused panic among students and their parents. Students were evacuated from 131 schools in Delhi and seven in Noida even as fire tenders, bomb disposal squads and sniffer dogs were rushed to schools to search for explosives.
DCP (PRO) Suman Nalwa said no suspicious object was found in the searches and that the emails, sent to school principals between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m., appeared to be a hoax.
“We suspect that the emails were sent to schools only to create panic in the city,” she said.
‘Russian domain’
Delhi Police sources said the email address used to send the threats to schools was registered with a Russian domain. However, the police are yet to ascertain whether the email originated from Russia or whether a virtual private network or Dark Web was used to mislead the investigation.
Senior officers said similar threats were made to the IGI Airport and some city hospitals in the last two days.
Law enforcement agencies in Delhi and Noida have registered separate cases under sections pertaining to criminal intimidation and criminal conspiracy of the IPC and for cybercrime under Section 66 of the IT Act.
Advay Brahmadathan, 11, a Class 7 student of Sardar Patel Vidyalaya in Lodhi estate, heard rumours of a fire within the school premises around 8.30 a.m.
“I saw one student crying. Many were curious about the cause. I asked my class teacher, who said there was a bomb threat,” he said. “By 10 a.m., the bomb squads had entered school premises and most of us were picked up from school,” he added.
Sudiksha, a Class 11 student of The Heritage School, Vasant Kunj, said, “As soon as the news spread, the school administration tried to contain the panic by escorting us out quickly. Our parents were very concerned.”
“There was a ruckus as many parents and students were around the campus. But the principal intervened and everyone calmed down,” she added.
Safe passage
Jyoti Arora, principal of Mount Abu School in Rohini, said that after hearing about other principals receiving threatening emails, she checked her inbox around 8.30 a.m. and found the same message.
“We made announcements about the evacuation. I also messaged the teachers, asking them to carry out the evacuation without panic,” she said.
While parents started lining up outside, school authorities called the police.
“Some younger students were confused and kept asking us what happened. When they saw their parents waiting outside, they became worried. We created exit counters so that children could leave calmly,” she added.
Aprajita Gautam, Delhi Parents’ Association president, said there was widespread panic among parents when messages started circulating on their WhatsApp groups around 7 a.m.
“Many schools announced early dispersal and some shared tracking details of the buses on which the children were being sent back home,” she said.