Over 40 schools in Delhi received email threats of a bomb attack on Monday morning, December 9. Prominent ones included Delhi Public School, RK Puram, and GD Goenka School, Paschim Vihar, among others, news agency ANI reported.
According to Delhi Police, the email included threatening messages such as, “I planted multiple bombs inside (school) buildings. The bombs are small and concealed very well. They will not cause much damage to the building but many people will be injured when the bombs go off. If I do not receive $30,000, I will detonate the bombs.” The threatening email had been sent to school authorities late Sunday night at 11:38 PM local time.
As a result, authorities have now started investigating the IP address from which these threats were mailed. The calls were made at a time when schools were filled with children, buses were arriving, parents were dropping off their kids, and other staff members were getting ready for the morning assembly. The call to Delhi Fire Department came around 7 AM local time.
Rising Menace of Hoax Threat Calls
This year has seen a number of such calls regarding educational institutions and airplanes across the country, most of which later proved to be hoaxes. On October, an explosion had taken place outside CRPF school in Rohini’s Prashant Vihar area that damaged the wall of the school and some vehicles and shops.
Following month on October 21, a mail was sent regarding a bomb threat to all the CRPF schools. In the face of these continuing threats, the Delhi High Court ordered the state government and Delhi police to draft a comprehensive action plan within eight weeks.
The action plan will also detail an SOP on how bomb threats and other emergencies are to be handled, including clear definitions of the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders, including police, municipal authorities, school administrations, and other law enforcement agencies.
