Rajasthan: Several Jaipur schools receive bomb threat, students evacuated

At least four schools in Rajasthan capital, Jaipur, received bomb threats via email on Monday, news agency PTI reported, citing police.

Students and staff members have been evacuated, and police teams, along with bomb and dog squads, have reached the schools. The development comes 12 days after similar messages to more than 150 schools in Delhi-NCR sparked a scare of unprecedented scale.

“Four-five schools have received bomb threats. Police have reached the schools,” Jaipur Police Commissioner Biju George Joseph said. The threat was given by email and a team is trying to identify the sender, the police added.

On Sunday, 20 hospitals, the IGI airport and the Northern Railways’ CPRO office in Delhi received bomb threats through emails.

While threats to Delhi schools were received from a Russia-based mailing service, Sunday’s threats to hospitals and two other installations were received from a Europe-based mailing service company ‘beeble.com’, officials said.

A police officer told PTI that the e-mail was sent to one hospital with copies marked to others with the same content. The officer said it was generated from sender id “courtgroup03@beeble.com”, which is being verified and cyber officials are trying to locate the IP address.

The content of the letter read, “I have placed explosive devices inside your building. They will explode in the following hour. This isn’t a threat, you have a few hours to disarm the bomb or else the blood of innocent people inside the building will be on your hands. The group called ‘Court’ is behind this massacre.”

The Delhi Police suspects the email was sent with the help of a VPN (virtual private network) or proxy server so that the IP address could not be traced. The Delhi Police Special Cell is likely to file an FIR and conduct the probe, PTI quoted the officer as saying.

Bomb threats to Delhi-NCR schools

On May 1, over 150 schools in Delhi-NCR received an identical threat email claiming that explosives had been planted on their premises, triggering massive evacuations and searches. The authorities later declared it a hoax.

The Delhi Police’s anti-terror unit special cell traced the domain of e-mails to Russia and it is suspected to have been formed with the help of the dark web — an encrypted online content that allows individuals to hide their identity and location from others.

After the hoax e-mails to schools, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla reviewed situation with senior officials and emphasised the need to enhance security, deploy CCTV cameras and regularly monitor e-mails in the schools, besides preparing a detailed protocol and SOPs to handle any such incidents in the future.

Bomb threats to Delhi hospitals

Police received information regarding the threat from Brurari Hospital at 3pm on Sunday after which complaints came in from several other hospitals across the city and police teams were dispatched but “nothing suspicious” has been found yet, officials said.

The bomb threats were reported from Indira Gandhi International Airport Terminal-3, Burari Hospital, Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Bara Hindu Rao Hospital, Janakpuri Super Speciality Hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyay, Dabri’s Dada Dev Hospital and Aruna Asaf Ali Government Hospital in Civil Lines, a senior Delhi Fire Services official said.

The Guru Nanak Dev Eye Hospital, Gramin Swastha Prashikshan Sansthan in Najafgarh, ILBS in Vasant Kunj are among the hospitals which were also checked by the local police as the emails were sent to them too, a police officer said.

The CPRO building located at State Entry Road in Connaught Place was also checked but nothing suspicious was found, the officer said. At some of the hospitals, the checks were underway till late night, he said.

“The Security Operations Control Centre at IGI Airport has received a threat email concerning an explosive device within the premises. Enhanced security protocols are now in effect, and safety measures have been intensified. Legal action has been initiated. No suspicious items have been found as of now,” Deputy Commission of Police (IGI) Usha Rangnani said.

The officer said that the airport authorities received a threat email at 6pm.