Bomb threat at this south Delhi school prompts evacuation and search

An email was received by a school in Delhi's Greater Kailash area, threatening to blow it up with a bomb.

A private school in south Delhi's Greater Kailash area received a bomb threat via email, prompting a search operation by the bomb detection team. The threat, however, was later declared a hoax after a thorough investigation, officials said on Friday.

The school principal said that police and bomb squad are present in the school and they are checking the premises. (Representational image)

The alarming email, received around midnight, claimed that a bomb had been planted on the premises of Summer Fields School. Adhering to the standard operating procedures (SOP) designed for such emergencies, the school management evacuated the students and informed the authorities.

“We received an email late at night which was checked early morning today,” Shalini Agarwal, the Principal of Summer Fields School, told ANI.

“As per the SOP, we evacuated the students within 10 minutes of receiving the email. We informed the police and district administration, and we are thankful to the police - they supported us magnificently as they came immediately,” she added.

Agarwal said that police and bomb squad are present in the school and they are checking the premises.

"There was absolutely no panic amongst the parents," she added.

Law enforcement agencies, including a bomb detection team and a dog squad, were dispatched to the school to conduct a thorough search of the premises, police said.

Further probe is underway, they added and declared the threat a hoax.

In May, the Union home ministry stressed the need to prepare detailed protocols and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for handling such situations after several schools in Delhi-NCR received similar hoax bomb threats via email. The home secretary called for close coordination between the Delhi Police and schools to prevent unnecessary panic caused by misinformation.

The ministry also stressed the need to enhance security measures, including the installation of CCTV cameras and regular monitoring of emails in schools.