Bomb threat: Four Odisha courts receive hoax mails; BJD demands NIA probe
Bhubaneswar (PTI): Panic gripped in four courts of Odisha on Friday after the authorities received bomb threat mails, which were later found to be hoax, a senior police officer said.
The district and sessions judge courts in Cuttack, Puri, Jajpur and Phulbani received emails where the sender threatened to explode bombs.
The security personnel launched searches by engaging bomb disposal squads and sniffer dogs for hours before the Odisha police called them a hoax.
The threatening emails came less than a month after similar communications were received by authorities of district courts in Cuttack, Deogarh and Sambalpur on January 8, police said.
Since two such incidents took place within less than a month, the opposition BJD demanded an NIA probe to trace the people involved in it.
“I am deeply concerned to learn about the bomb threat received by the district courts of Cuttack, Puri, Phulbani, and Jajpur once again. Just a few days ago, bomb threats were received by the district courts of Sambalpur, Cuttack, and Debagarh,” BJD president Naveen Patnaik said in a X post.
“However, it is astonishing that no one has been able to trace from where such emails are coming or who is involved in this matter, despite public discussions. The state government must not take such a sensitive incident lightly. The safety of judicial institutions, including judges, lawyers, litigants, court staff, and the general public, must not be jeopardised,” he said.
Patnaik appealed to people to remain calm, stay away from spreading rumors, and extend full cooperation to the security agencies.
BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty at a press conference alleged that such incidents during the President’s visit exposes security lapses in the state.
“We demanded a swift, accurate, and impartial investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into all these bomb threat cases,” Mohanty said adding that the people have completely lost faith in the government when it comes to the protection of their lives and property.
Odisha's Advocate General Pitambar Acharya appealed to all the members of the judicial fraternity not to panic over the incident and maintain calm.
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Bypoll results will decide the future of Congress in Karnataka: BJP leader Ashoka
Bengaluru (PTI): Leader of Opposition BJP in the Karnataka Assembly R Ashoka said the results of the bypolls in Davanagere South and Bagalkote assembly constituencies will decide the future of the ruling Congress in the state.
The bypolls were necessitated following the demise of sitting Congress MLAs Shamanur Shivashankarappa and H Y Meti, who represented Davanagere South and Bagalkote constituencies respectively.
The ruling Congress has fielded Shamanur Shivashankarappa’s grandson and Karnataka Minister S S Mallikarjun’s son Samarth Shamanur in Davanagere South and Umesh Meti in Bagalkote, who are locked in a direct contest with BJP candidates T Dasakariyappa and Veerabhadrayya Charantimath.
According to Ashoka, there is a contest between the poor and the rich in the upcoming bypolls, scheduled on April 9.
"The Congress will lose this election, and the future of the state will be decided. Since Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said ‘Make the poor win’, the BJP has fielded poor candidates,” the BJP leader said in a press conference.
In Davanagere, the BJP has given a ticket to an ordinary person, whereas Congress has given tickets to powerful and influential people. In Bagalkote, there is a very good opinion about the BJP candidate, he claimed.
According to him, the Congress has given space to dynastic politics in both places. Therefore, the BJP has a strong chance of winning in both constituencies.
The LoP said if the Congress candidate wins in Davanagere, it is understood that Muslims will not get opportunities in the future, and therefore, Muslims are opposing the Congress party.
He also charged that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who talks about uniting backward classes, has not given a ticket to backward class candidates.
