Five Delhi schools receive bomb threats, later declared hoax

Senior police officers said threatening emails were sent to the British School, Sanskriti School, Modern School, Doon Public School (Paschim Vihar) and Mother’s International School, Hauz Khas

New Delhi

Students of Sanskriti School are evacuated on Thursday morning. (Vipin Kumar/HT Photo)

At least five schools in Delhi received emails, warnings of bomb blasts on Thursday morning, leading to sudden evacuations and searches by bomb squads and police squads. However, the threats were later declared hoaxes and police said they are trying to track the accused.

Senior police officers said threatening emails were sent to the British School, Sanskriti School, Modern School, Doon Public School (Paschim Vihar) and Mother’s International School, Hauz Khas.

Additional deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi) Anand Kumar Mishra said police were apprised of the threats between 10am and 10.45am. “Bomb squads, dog squads and other teams were rushed. All necessary protocol was followed and searches were conducted. Nothing suspicious was found; it was later found that it was a hoax,” he said.

Police said that since classes were already underway when the threats were received, students were promptly evacuated, rushed outside the premises and parents were alerted.

A senior police officer said the sender’s IP address was yet to be identified.

“I am writing to you with an extremely serious and urgent warning. Your building is booby-trapped with several very powerful bombs that can detonate at any moment. These bombs have enormous destructive power and are likely to explode very soon, taking the lives of hundreds of innocent children and many teachers…evacuation must be carried out immediately and as quickly as possible. Please follow these instructions without delay… Evacuation: evacuate all students and staff from the building immediately…Panic can lead to chaos and additional casualties…Please understand that you have all been warned, now, after reading and understanding this warning, the entire responsibility for hundreds of lives rests solely on your hands and conscience,” reads the email.

Police said multiple teams are working to identify the sender.

On Tuesday,four district courts in Delhi, along with two CRPF-run schools, received bomb threats. Hearings at the Saket court, Patiala House Court, Rohini court and Dwarka court had to be halted, and staff had to be evacuated. Later in the day, two CRPF schools in Prashant Vihar and Dwarka also received a bomb threat through a PCR call. Police said the PCR caller has been identified and will be nabbed.

“In most cases, where students or young adults send emails, they use virtual private networks or even dark web. It is next to impossible to trace dark web and even in VPN, the protection of the connection is such that it can’t be found easily. Most people buy VPN subscriptions and use it. Only when people are using well-known providers can we can trace them,” an officer from the New Delhi cyber cell said.

On October 28, over 200 schools in Delhi received a bomb threat via email, triggering mass searches across schools in the national capital. Parents gathered around schools and teachers helped students rush outside. However, the threats were later declared a hoax.

Last year, a school student, 17, was “traced” but never apprehended after he had sent threatening emails to hundreds of schools. While no official figures have been shared, more than 500 schools received bomb threats last year.