Panic gripped schools in the national capital after about 100 of them received bomb threats here on Wednesday, May 1, 2024 morning, police officials said
Around 100 schools in both Delhi and Noida received emails threatening a bomb attack on Wednesday early morning. The Delhi and Noida police are currently conducting searches with bomb disposal and dog squads, and have evacuated the premises, police said.
Verses of Quran have been quoted in the alleged email that has been sent to several school. The Delhi Fire Services also received more than 60 fire calls on Wednesday, May 1, 2024 morning.
Speaking to The Hindu, DCP (south west) Rohit Meena, said that almost six schools in the area received an email at 4 am with a “bomb threat”.
“We have evacuated the schools and have been checking the premises but nothing has been found yet,” said Mr. Meena.
Similarly, over 15 schools in south district received the same email at the same time, said DCP (south) Ankit Chauhan.
A senior official told The Hindu that the email was sent from a Russian ID, however he said that in the cyber domain it could also be a proxy ID. The police at present are investigating to all angles to reach the sender of the mails. According to a police source, several schools in Dwarka received a bomb threat call on Wednesday morning.
‘No need for panic’
“There is no need to panic we have evacuated all the premises and children have been taken out, what seems to appear is that the email was sent using VPN, and we suspect the IP address belongs to Russia, we have to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter,” the source said.
Regarding the bomb threat to several schools, DIG Addl. CP (L&O), Shivhari Meena said, “We received an information through the principal that DPS (Noida, Sector 29) has received a threat mail. We immediately reached the school and BDS team, sniffer dog team, fire brigade and other senior officers were also at the spot. So far, nothing suspicious has been found in the search. All the children were safely evacuated first. Our teams are rechecking the school to ensure that there are no issues. We have received information (regarding bomb threat) from other schools as well, our senior officers are at the spot, we are ensuring that checking is done at all schools where such mails have been received as per the protocol.”
Delhi Ministet Atishi took to social media platform X, and said that some schools have received bomb threats today morning. “Students have been evacuated and those premises are being searched by Delhi Police. So far nothing has been found in any of the schools. We are in constant touch with the Police and the schools. Would request parents and citizens not to panic. School authorities will be in touch with parents wherever needed,” she said.
L-G seeks report; mail traced
Delhi L-G V.K. Saxena said that he spoke to the Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora and sought a detailed report into the bomb threats at schools in Delhi-NCR. “I have directed the Delhi Police to carry out a thorough search in school premises, identify the culprits and ensure there are no lapses,” he said.
He also said that the police have traced the mails. “The Delhi Police has traced from where the mails are coming. The investigation is going on and the culprits will be punished,” Mr. Saxena said.
Assuring citizens, he added further, “I also received the information at around 7:30 a.m. and I had asked the Police Commissioner to pay attention to this matter. I want to assure the citizens of Delhi that Delhi Police is alert and we will try not to let any unfortunate incident happen.”
Mr. Saxena said, “I request the parents not to panic and co-operate with the administration in ensuring safety of schools and the children. The miscreants and culprits will not be spared.”
Atul Garg, Director of Delhi Fire Services said they received around 60 calls about bomb threats in schools.
‘A hoax’
“Around 8 am, when we received the first few calls, I alerted all our staff, we postponed all our work to attend all the calls, we immediately sent fire tenders and fire tenders have started returning from some schools because nothing has been found and we suspect all the calls will turn out to be hoax...” he said.
Students and parents outside Delhi Public School, Noida, after several schools received a bomb threat, in Noida, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. | Photo Credit: PTI
Mother Mary School at Mayur Vihar, Delhi Public School at Dwarka, Sanskriti School in Chanakyapuri, Delhi Public School at Vasant Kunj and Amity School in Saket have received bomb threats via email, they said. All five schools have been evacuated after local police was informed about the emails, they added.
Also read: 13 schools in Chennai get bomb threat; police say it is a hoax
Alka Kapur, Principal of Modern Public School, Shalimar Bagh said that multiple schools received threats early morning. She said, “It seemed like a broadcast message since most schools in Delhi have received it. We immediately evacuated students and took them to an open ground away from the school.” She added, at around 11 am, that parents are still coming to pick their children up.
Jyoti Arora, principal of Mount Abu Public School in Rohini also said that they received the threat. Around 500 parents picked their children up from school till 11 am and Delhi Police’s bomb squads reached the school half an hour after they reached out to the police.
Anxious parents, school children, teachers and others at Mother Mary’s School at Mayur Vihar, in New Delhi, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. | Photo Credit: PTI
Parents’ panic
Aprajita Gautam, president of Delhi Parents’ Association said that there was wide-spread panic among parents as the messages started circulating in school groups in WhatsApp in the morning. “Since many schools announced early dispersal, the schools shared tracking details of the school buses via which the students were going back home. Hence, parents knew that their children were safe.”
However, she added that for children in smaller schools that do not have buses, and where parents are working, many children have not been evacuated as yet, and parents continue to be worried.
