Mumbai airport, Taj Hotel get bomb threat over Afzal Guru hanging

The email was received at the airport police station of Mumbai on their official email ID on Thursday morning from an ID viduthalai_puli_vellum@outlook.com.

The city is already on alert after the India-Pakistan tension escalated in the recent days. Security agencies conducted mock drills in many parts of the city.

The Mumbai police have also registered a case against the user of the said email account and are trying to trace the email’s digital footprints.

Last week, the disaster control room of the Maharashtra Secretariat and the police had also received an email threat of a bomb blast.

The Taj Hotel was targeted by the Pakistan-born Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists on November 26, 2008, in which 167 people were killed and more than 250 were injured. The popular five-star hotel is one of the most iconic hotels in the country and has been on the terrorists’ top target list. The hotel has round-the-clock external as well as internal security cover.

Mumbai airport is also a sensitive spot that sees a heavy influx of domestic and international passengers daily.

The Mumbai police have started an investigation to trace the email sender.

The email sender mentioned “unjust hanging of Afzal Guru and Savakku Shankar” as the reason for launching the attack on the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel and airport. However, the mention of the execution of Savakku Shankar, a former lower division clerk in the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption who gained notoriety for exposing corruption, is factually incorrect. Shankar, is a YouTuber and social activist who recently filed a public interest litigation before the Madras High Court seeking a CBI probe into the alleged illegalities in the implementation of entrepreneurship schemes for manual scavengers.

Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist Afzal Guru was hanged to death on February 9, 2013, for masterminding the attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001.