E-Paper
Bomb threat emails to five UP courts spark statewide alert
Judicial work halted in Lucknow, Varanasi, Ayodhya, Meerut and Mirzapur; ATS, STF join intensive searches
Bomb threats sent via emails to government mail accounts triggered a massive security response across court complexes in Lucknow, Varanasi, Ayodhya, Meerut and Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh on Friday, forcing the evacuation of thousands of lawyers and litigants and the suspension of court proceedings.
Police said the threats were received on the official government email IDs of these courts, causing panic and prompting immediate precautionary action. All five court premises were evacuated and judicial work was temporarily halted.
In Varanasi alone, more than 3,000 lawyers and around 5,000 litigants vacated the court complex in haste. The district judge also stepped out of the campus as security teams began a comprehensive sweep.
Deputy commissioner of police, Varanasi’s Varuna zone, Pramod Kumar, said earlier in the day, “Information was received on a judge’s e-mail. The entire court compound was vacated. A bomb disposal squad conducted a thorough checking on the premises. So far, nothing has been found. Most of the police teams have returned, but a team of personnel is still deployed.” He said the police team is analysing the content mentioned in the mail as the sender stated they would trigger blasts at 18 different spots.
Across districts, police, bomb disposal squads, dog squads and anti-sabotage teams combed every corner of the court campuses. Though no suspicious object had been found till late evening, officials said they were taking no risks given the sensitivity of the locations.
Senior officers in Lucknow were closely monitoring the situation, according to sources. Cyber cell units and security agencies have been roped in to trace the origin of the emails. Investigators said the pattern of most of the emails appeared similar, raising questions about whether they were sent simultaneously as part of a coordinated attempt to trigger panic.
“Efforts are underway to determine who sent the emails and from where. We are examining whether there is any larger conspiracy behind sending threats to multiple districts at the same time,” said Vishwajeet Srivastava, deputy commissioner of police, Lucknow West.
He said given the seriousness of the threats, the Anti-Terrorism Squad and the Special Task Force units were also deployed in addition to local police and the Provincial Armed Constabulary.
Similar checks were conducted on the court premises in Ayodhya, Meerut and Mirzapur, and a high alert was issued across all courts in the state. The fresh scare has revived memories of the November 23, 2007 serial blasts that struck court complexes in Lucknow, Varanasi and Faizabad (now Ayodhya) within 25 minutes.
In Varanasi, the explosion at the civil court and collectorate premises killed three people and injured around 50. Two successive blasts hit Faizabad district court around 1:12 pm and 1:15 pm, followed by another blast in Lucknow at about 1:32 pm. The attacks were reportedly aimed at lawyers.
Police officials said enhanced surveillance, access control and deployment of specialised units have been ordered across sensitive judicial complexes. While initial searches in all five districts yielded no explosives, security forces remained stationed on the premises as investigations into the source and intent of the emails continued.
