Woman held for sending 200 bomb threat emails: Delhi Police

A 41-year-old intellectually challenged woman was arrested in Delhi for sending 200 bomb threat emails but was released to her family after evaluation.

New Delhi: A 41-year-old woman from Ahmedabad city of Gujarat was apprehended on Sunday in Delhi allegedly sending around 200 bomb threat emails to various high-profile officials, dignitaries and government buildings since February, the Delhi Police said on Tuesday.

A threat email regarding bombs placed at a state Bhavan in central Delhi was received on June 18 and then the matter was brought to the notice of the New Delhi district police, said an officer. (Representational image)

However, after the woman was found to be “intellectually challenged”, she was restored to her family on Monday, following a joint interrogation by the city police and central security and intelligence agencies. Her family had disowned her some months ago because of her alleged habit of sending threat emails, said a senior police officer, requesting anonymity.

According to the officer, a threat email regarding bombs placed at a state Bhavan in central Delhi was received on June 18 and the matter was brought to the notice of the New Delhi district police.

Anti-sabotage checks were carried out in the building’s premises by the bomb detection and disposal squad, and dog squad. But nothing suspicious was found, thus the bomb threat mail was declared a hoax. Thereafter, the police launched an operation to identify and nab the email sender, the officer added.

“Through technical investigation, we tracked the suspect in the area near Bangla Sahib Gurdwara. The suspect turned out to be a woman, who was taken into custody by a team of the Chanakyapuri police station and was questioned by the joint teams of the Delhi Police and central agencies. Her bizarre responses gave us reasons to believe that she was intellectually challenged and hallucinating,” the officer said.

Another officer, who also requested anonymity, said that an examination of the woman’s phone revealed that she used her smartphone to send the bomb threat emails, running into multiple pages. Further probe established her identity and helped the police to contact her sister, an advocate, in Ahmedabad.

“The woman’s sister confirmed that her sister was intellectually challenged, and was earlier apprehended by the Gujarat Police for a similar offence. As the woman often left her home and brought troubles to the family, her family members had disowned her some months ago,” the second officer said.

Police said that the woman had been staying at religious establishments in Delhi and other states for the past few weeks.

In March, the Delhi Police had arrested a 47-year-old man from Karnataka’s Mysuru for allegedly sending over 1,100 bomb threat emails to schools, courts and government offices across the country. He was identified as Srinivas Louis, a post-graduate and native of Bengaluru, the police said.