Hoax bomb threats haunt Delhi again, 4 schools get calls

A Delhi Fire Services (DFS) official said checking at the Andhra school, which was the last one to receive the threat, is still underway while the other schools were declared safe and the calls were found to be hoaxes.

“At 8.20 am, a call was received regarding a bomb threat at Sant Darshan Public School. A similar call followed from CRPF School in Dwarka at 8.33 am and another was received from Shanti Gyan school at 8.51 am. The fourth call came around 10 am from Andhra school. Immediately, the DFS dispatched fire tenders to each of the schools, where three of the calls were declared a hoax. Checking is being done at the Andhra school,” a DFS official said.

The Delhi Police’s Bomb Detection Teams were also rushed to all these schools, with Non- Linear Junction detectors (NLJD) and Explosive Weapon Detector (M-ION) used to see if any visible explosive was present.

Deep Search Metal Detectors (DSMD) were also used to search for metal items. RTVS, a portable X-RAY machine, was used to check for wires and switches inside closed items, a police officer said.

Last month, over a hundred schools across Delhi had received bomb threat emails, triggering panic and an immediate security response from authorities.

Police had said the threat message, which contained long lists of recipient addresses — including dozens of school principals and administrators — claimed that explosives had been planted on school premises and threatened terrible consequences if they were not defused within 24 hours.

The emails were learnt to have contained the subject line, ‘Bombs placed in your building, react or face disaster’. The sender, who went by the alias ‘Azuk, called themselves “the definition of pure hatred” and warned of mass casualties if the threats were ignored.

Bomb threats were also sent to the Delhi High Court and the Delhi Chief Minister’s Secretariat and several hospitals this year.

Last year, too, Delhi saw a spate of cases involving bomb threats to schools, colleges, hospitals and even the Delhi Airport.