New Delhi/Mumbai: Bomb Threat e-mails were received by both the Delhi and Bombay High Courts on Friday, leading to major search operations and disruption of proceedings.
The threat to Bombay High Court came minutes after the Delhi High Court received the bomb threat e-mail, prompting the Bombay Bar Association to request all members and staff to vacate the court premises.
The Mumbai Police said that bomb detection and disposal squads are conducting searches inside the court premises. Preliminary reports suggest it is a hoax.
All benches at the Delhi High Court also stopped functioning after the bomb threat there. The premises were vacated and search operations launched.
“A bomb detection and disposal team was deployed immediately, and the area was cordoned off. After multiple searches, nothing suspicious was found,” an official said.
According to the Delhi Police, the e-mail was sent under the name ‘Kanimozhi Thevidiya’, and mentioned that the High Court’s judge’s chamber would be “detonated shortly”. It also claimed to “recreate” the 1998 Coimbatore blasts in Patna later today and threatened an acid attack on Udhayanidhi Stalin’s son, Inbanithi.
“See, the basic funda is, secular parties depend on allowing family dynasty politics and corruption to thrive in order to fight BJP/RSS. When the heirs (Rahul Gandhi, Udhayanidhi) are prevented from power, they lose interest in fighting against RSS,” the e-mail read.
It further stated that in order to “create a new evolution of secular leaders”, some people will be “eliminated”. “We propose Dr. Ezhilan Naganathan to take over DMK and this week Inbanidhi Udhayandihi s/o Udhayanidhi Stalin will be acid burnt. The intelligence agencies won’t have a clue that this is an inside job. The assets within the Police have been sown since 2017, for this Holy Friday. As a sample, today’s blast in your Delhi High Court will clear the doubt of previous bluffs,” it added.
The mail also provided a purported contact name and phone number to know IED device locations and defusing codes.
These come on the heels of a series of similar hoaxes across the country.
Earlier this week, the Delhi Chief Minister’s Secretariat, Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC), and University College of Medical Science (UCMS) received bomb threats, which were later declared as hoaxes. According to the police, the threats mentioned that RDX, having a one-km blast radius, was planted in the three sites.
Last month, at least 20 colleges received threatening messages through e-mail. Preliminary findings suggested the sender may have used a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to mask their identity.