Bomb scare at six courts in Bengal as judges join SIR exercise following SC order

Sniffer dogs and bomb disposal squad personnel were sent to the City Civil and Sessions Court and the Bankshall Court in Kolkata after the bomb threat mail.

At least six district courts in West Bengal, including two in Kolkata, had to be vacated and searched on Tuesday afternoon following bomb scare triggered by e-mails, police said.

File photo: Apart from two Kolkata courts, the bomb threats were sent to Chinsurah court in Hooghly district, the Asansol and Durgapur courts in West Burdwan district. (PTI)

Sniffer dogs and bomb disposal squad personnel were sent to the City Civil and Sessions Court and the Bankshall Court in central Kolkata after an e-mail received by a court office claimed that bombs were planted inside the premises. The search yielded no result.

Similar incidents happened at the Chinsurah court in Hooghly district, the Asansol and Durgapur courts in West Burdwan district and the Berhampore court in Murshidabad district.

All the incidents happened simultaneously hours after the Supreme Court said on Tuesday morning that judicial officers from Odisha and Jharkhand could be deployed in addition to the 250 acting and retired judicial officers from Bengal's district courts to dispose of around six million disputed claims filed by voters during the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral roll.

Manoj Agarwal, the chief electoral officer (CEO) of West Bengal, said the state must provide safety and security for the judicial officers deployed for the SIR exercise.

State chief secretary Nandini Chakraborty, director general of police Peeyush Pandey and Kolkata Police commissioner Supratim Sarkar held a press conference at Nabanna, the state secretariat, while the search operations were on.

"We are investigating the source of the mails. The pattern is the same. All the district judges are working in their respective areas. The state government is working actively to ensure their safety and security so that he SIR exercise is not affected," the chief secretary said.

Supratim Sarkar said, "Our cyber crime wing is trying to trace the source of the e-mail. We will take strong action once the sender is identified."

Debaprasad Nath, the West Burdwan district judge, said at the Durgapur court that he ordered the administration to vacate the premises as a safety measure.

"It is most likely a hoax mail. I gave orders to vacate the court as a safety measure so that the search operation could be conducted quickly," the judge told the media.

Police could not find any explosive device at any of the five courts till 2 pm. However, security at several other courts was beefed up in view of the panic the incidents created.