30 schools in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar get hoax bomb threat emails

Even as police teams reached the schools soon after being informed, the school authorities urged parents to pick up their children early from the school.

District Education Officer (DEO), Ahmedabad city, Rohit Chaudhary issued an advisory for the schools to remain in contact with the police and take necessary steps.

“Schools that have not received threat are advised to take necessary action… to avoid spreading panic and fear,” the advisory read. The DEO advisory included the names of 12 of the schools that received the email: Maharaja Agrasen School Gurukul, Zydus School Vejalpur, DAV School Makarba, Mahatma Gandhi International School Mithakhali, Ahmedabad International School, Bodakdev, Udgam School for Children Thaltej, Zebar SChool for Children Thaltej, JG International Sola Road, Sattva Vikas Sindhu Bhawan, Nirman School Vastrapur, Prakash School Bodakdev and Mount Carmel School Ashram Road.

Later in the day, Jitu Vaghani, Cabinet Minister and state government spokesperson, said, “Several schools received email threats about bomb. I assure all parents that our police department is vigilant. Bomb disposal squads and sniffer dog teams were immediately sent to all the schools that received threats. Nothing suspicious has been found. To avoid any risk, these schools have been shut as a precaution. The Crime Branch is looking into where the emails originated from and who sent them.”

The Ahmedabad city police, along with bomb disposal squads, reached the schools and thoroughly inspected the classrooms and playgrounds. Also, some of the roads leading to these schools were cordoned off as a precautionary measure.

Manan Choksi, director of Udgam Schools told The Indian Express, “An evacuation was advised by the police, to whom we immediately shared the email.”

Deepak Gautam, Principal of DAV International School, Makarba, told The Indian Express, “We received a threatening email at 9:28 am and immediately informed the police on 112. I also sent two staff members to the local Sarkhej police station. The school administration through the public administration system calmly asked students to gather in the playground in batches beginning with pre primary classes. We have a good team of teachers who helped in the situation and maintained calm among students. Parents were also informed and those with personal transport were asked to pick them up early while the rest were sent home through buses.”

The inspection of the school campus by the police and bomb disposal squad was completed by around 1 pm.

Some schools that had not received the threat email also opted for evacuation as a precautionary measure and issued messages to parents in this regard.

Some of the schools said they took this as a “mock drill” to assess the preparedness and requirement to respond to such an emergency.

“Everything is normal and the school will run as per usual timings on Thursday,” the principal of DAV International School told The Indian Express.

Raja Pathak, director of Sattva Vikas School, Sindhu Bhawan, said, “We issued a note to the parents that they do not need to panic and the school will close at 3 pm as usual but in case if they want to pick their children early, they can.”

As a result, around 50 per cent of the parents reached and picked up their wards early. The school vacated all the classrooms by assembling students in the ground till the inspection by the bomb squad was completed.

Pathak added that the school would issue an advisory to the parents on Thursday. “We will send a message saying that in case such a situation arises in future, you can come and pick up your children but do not panic as the school will function normally,” he added.

Some schools will also organise safety awareness programmes on Thursday. The branches of Udgam School for Children will conduct such a campaign for its primary classes and students will be made more aware of what they need to do in such situations. For instance, they will be advised not to touch unknown boxes, bags and objects, inform a teacher or staff member immediately, no ‘hero acts’ as children should not investigate and not spread stories or panic while teachers will be advised to use calm tone, avoid frightening details and reassure anxious children individually.

Initially, police stations in Ahmedabad City planned to file individual FIRs in connection with each of the 17 schools in its jurisdiction that got the threat mails. However, as this would be a waste of resources considering it was a similar threat sent to several schools, it was decided to file one consolidated FIR at the Cybercrime Police station.  The unidentified accused were booked under BNS sections for aggravated criminal intimidation, public mischief, criminal conspiracy as well as section 66(c) of the Information Technology Act that deals with identity theft.

The FIR was filed on the basis of a complaint by sub-inspector P A Hirpara. ACP Hardik Makadia of Ahmedabad City Cybercrime Police station said that some of the schools received multiple mails.

Om Prakash Jat, Superintendent (SP), Ahmedabad Rural Police, told The Indian Express, “There were bomb threats to seven schools in our jurisdiction. An immediate search operation was conducted in all the schools by SOG, LCB, dog squad, BDDS and teams from the local police stations. As a security measure, all the students of all the schools were safely evacuated and sent home. During the investigation and search, no suspicious object or bomb was found in any of the schools. One FIR will be filed at the Range Cybercrime Police station.”

The schools in Rural Ahmedabad included Eklavya School in Sanand, New Tulip International School Bopal, Delhi Public School Bopal, Apple Global School in Sanand, Shanti Asiatic School in Shela, Zydus School for Excellence in Godhavi, and Cosmos Castle International School Manipur in Bopal.

Gandhinagar SP Ravi Teja Vasamsetty said, “A total of six schools in Gandhinagar received bomb threats and they were all checked and found to be hoaxes. An FIR will be filed at the Range Cybercrime Police station.”

Schools in Gandhinagar that received bomb threats included Devine child international school, Gems and Genesis School, Adani International School, Aavishkar School, Red Brick School and Olive School.