At least ten hotels in Rajkot, Gujarat, received bomb threat emails on Saturday, later confirmed as hoaxes, police reported.
The emails, received around 12:45 pm, prompted police and the bomb disposal squad to conduct thorough searches of the hotels, said SM Jadeja, Inspector of the Special Operations Group (SOG).
No suspicious items were found: Police
The email sender, identifying himself as "Kan Den," claimed he had planted bombs in ten hotels, set to detonate in a few hours. “I placed bombs in every location of your hotel. The bombs will go off in a few hours. Many innocent lives will be lost today. Hurry up and evacuate the hotel,” read the message.
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After nearly five hours of searching, no suspicious items were found, Inspector Jadeja said, adding that an investigation is underway to identify the sender.
In the past 12 days, over 275 flights operated by Indian carriers have received hoax bomb threats, mostly through social media. On Friday alone, more than 25 domestic and international flights were targeted.
While all flights landed safely, these threats caused significant disruption and even some international flights had to divert to Canada and Germany, and prompted fighter jets to escort planes over Britain and Singapore.
{{/usCountry}}While all flights landed safely, these threats caused significant disruption and even some international flights had to divert to Canada and Germany, and prompted fighter jets to escort planes over Britain and Singapore.
{{/usCountry}}Amid this wave of hoax threats, the IT Ministry has directed social media platforms to uphold due diligence, promptly removing or disabling misinformation within strict timelines as per IT rules.
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The Centre stressed that beyond removing harmful content, social media intermediaries hold additional responsibilities under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS). This law requires them to report certain offences involving any user threatening India’s unity, integrity, or security.
In an advisory, the government reminded platforms that they must, under IT rules, provide information under their control to assist investigative agencies within a maximum of 72 hours.