Mumbai mayor’s office, BMC receive bomb threat mails, declared hoaxes: Police

Police and Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) teams conducted extensive searches at the premises and later declared the threats hoaxes, officers said

A series of bomb threat emails sent to Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawade, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) headquarters, the RSS headquarters in Nagpur, the Maharashtra chief minister’s office and the Pune civic headquarters triggered security checks on Wednesday.

Investigators said the emails were traced to foreign IP addresses and were likely sent using VPN services. “All the Internet Protocol (IP) address for the emails were traced to foreign countries. (Representative photo)

Police and Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) teams conducted extensive searches at the premises and later declared the threats hoaxes, officers said, adding that Tawade’s office, including her cabin and official vehicle, was also inspected following the email threat.

Investigators said the emails were traced to foreign IP addresses and were likely sent using VPN services. “All the Internet Protocol (IP) address for the emails were traced to foreign countries. This seems to be same old people sitting in foreign countries using VPN have been sending such threat and hoax emails to India since past few months creating panic,” a police officer said.

In Pune, the sender used the name “Tamia Edwards”, while in Mumbai the emails were sent under the name “Loretta”, police said.