Bhubaneswar: Hours after several courts in Odisha received anonymous emails with bomb threats on Friday, Advocate General (AG) Pitambar Acharya described these as hoax messages and said police are actively investigating to trace the source.
Stating that these emails were apparently sent by cyber fraudsters to create panic, he said the threat messages were similar to those received in several courts in the state last month and police are taking all possible measures to deal with such situations.
“There is no need for panic as the threat messages were the handiwork of fraudsters and anti-social elements. The police are alert and trying to identify the source though it often becomes difficult to trace it as the fraudsters quickly change their fake details,” he said.
Acharya said the bomb threat emails targeting multiple district courts are stated to have been sent from the dark web, similar to earlier hoaxes directed at courts in Tamil Nadu by antisocial elements playing terror games.
Stating that police are actively investigating these threatening emails, the AG said appropriate measures are also being taken to prevent such hoaxes in future.
Earlier also the court complexes were evacuated, searched by bomb squads and sniffer dogs, but no explosives were found, confirming them as hoaxes. Cyber cells are tracing the anonymous senders amid ongoing security concerns across the state, said Acharya.
It may be noted that at least three courts in Odisha received anonymous emails with bomb threats on Friday, triggering panic and emergency preventive measures.
According to sources, threatening messages, which warned of impending explosions, were sent to Cuttack District and Sessions Judge Court, the Puri District Court, and the Phulbani District Court in Kandhamal district. Security has been tightened at these courts, with police teams along with dog squads and bomb-defusing units rushing to inspect the premises.
Judges, lawyers, court staff, litigants, and visitors were also swiftly evacuated from the court premises as a precautionary measure to safeguard lives.
Sources, however, said that no explosive devices were found during the initial sweeps.
Security has been substantially strengthened at entry points and throughout the court complexes in Cuttack, Puri, and Phulbani, as well as at Sambalpur court as a precautionary measure.
This incident marks the second wave of such threats targeting Odisha’s district courts in recent weeks. On January 8, similar anonymous emails were received by courts in Cuttack, Sambalpur, and Deogarh, leading to evacuations and probes ordered by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi. Investigation confirmed that the threats were hoaxes and court proceedings returned to normal after security sweeps were completed.
