Courts across Maharashtra evacuated after receiving bomb threat emails

Balasaheb Patil, DCP, Zone 1, told HT, “The Thane sessions court registrar received an email at 9.43 am. However, the local police were informed about it only at 12 noon

MUMBAI: Several district and sessions courts across Maharashtra, including courts in Thane and Pune, received emails threatening bomb blasts on their premises on Monday, triggering a security scare and police searches. Police officials said that nothing suspicious was found on the premises after thorough searches by the bomb detection and disposal squads (BDDS).

Courts across Maharashtra evacuated after receiving bomb threat emails

Balasaheb Patil, DCP, Zone 1, told HT, “The Thane sessions court registrar received an email at 9.43 am. However, the local police were informed about it only at 12 noon. We immediately rushed 12 teams, including two BDDS teams, to the court. The sender of the email had threatened to blow up the court premises at 3.11 pm.” The building was evacuated and declared out of bounds till 3.30 pm. Further investigation into the email’s origin and the sender’s identity is being done by the Thane Cyber Cell.

In Pune, the Shivajinagar court administration received a similar threat by email. “It said that a bomb had been placed in the court building,” said a Pune Police officer. “The court premises were evacuated, the BDDS was summoned and a search was undertaken, but nothing suspicious was found.”

In Marathwada’s Hingoli, an email threatening to blow up the court building came to light after the court opened in the morning. Police and BDDS teams rushed to the spot and launched a search. A police official said the email might have been a hoax, adding that the Hingoli cybercrime unit was tracing the email’s source.

A similar email was received in Beed, also in Marathwada, at 11.52 am, warning of a bomb blast at 3.11 pm, following which the court complex was evacuated. Additional superintendent of police Shaikh Sameer said that police, BDDS and LCB personnel, along with a dog squad, reached the court complex and carried out a sanitisation and search operation.