Delhi Police chief gets ‘threat e-mail’ of bomb at school, minor picked up

With the email coming in the wake of a similar one being sent to over 150 schools in Delhi-NCR Wednesday, the Commissioner’s staff office immediately raised an alarm and directed the Special Cell and Crime Branch to probe the matter. “Police approached Google and received details later in the day. A raid was conducted and a juvenile was picked up from outside his house in Outer Delhi. Police are questioning him and trying to ascertain his exact age after verifying documents,” the source said.

“He created an email ID under another name for the purpose and used a new SIM card,” the source added.

The national capital has been on high alert since Wednesday morning after the schools got an email “threatening to blow up” the premises. After a thorough check, it was declared a hoax.

Among other schools, Sanskriti School in Chanakyapuri had received two separate emails from two different users. “The first mail, from mail.ru, came in the morning, but they received another mail at 1.42 pm from a Gmail user, in which the user wrote, ‘The bomb will explode in 10 minutes’,” a senior police officer said, adding that they approached Google for details.

“After getting the details, a raid was conducted and a 12-year-old boy was picked up from his home in Southern range Thursday. He was examined in the presence of a counsellor and his parents. He admitted his mistake and was let off by police after counselling,” an officer said.

The boy who sent a bomb threat to the Delhi Police Commissioner via email on Thursday, has been traced, Delhi police spokesperson Suman Malwa. “He is an immature child… The mail was sent as an act of mischief; the juvenile, after proper counselling, has been handed over to his parents,” she said.

Cops file FIR

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police Special Cell has lodged an FIR under IPC sections of criminal conspiracy, criminal Intimidation and statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes against unknown persons. It stated that the hoax bomb emails were sent “with the conspiratorial intention of creating mass panic” and to “disturb the public”.

According to the FIR, several calls of bomb threats were received from different schools between 5.47 am and 1.13 pm. “School authorities said they had received these bomb threats on their email IDs… on receipt of the calls, PCR vehicles were rushed to the schools, district police, bomb disposal squad… were also alerted,” the FIR said. It added that an elaborate exercise was carried out across the city in safely evacuating schools and carrying out anti-sabotage checks.

Following a preliminary probe by the Special Cell’s Counter-Intelligence Unit, the email was traced to a Russian IP address — mail.ru.

Police, meanwhile, have written to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Interpol pertaining to the investigation of the case. The CBI, which has been investigating several hoax bomb call cases, would forward information sought to the Interpol, which will further be sent

to law enforcement agencies across the world, officers said.