At least 100 schools receive bomb threats in Delhi NCR, found nothing after checks, say police
New Delhi/Noida (PTI): At least 100 schools in the Delhi-NCR area received bomb threats through emails on Wednesday leading to chaos and widespread alarm but “nothing objectionable” was found, officials said, requesting people not to panic.
The schools were evacuated after local police were informed about the threat emails.
According to Delhi Fire Service (DFS), at least 97 calls from different schools have been received till 12 noon on Wednesday. All the calls are being attended diligently, an officer said.
Multiple private schools in Noida and Greater Noida also received the bomb threat.
The Ministry of Home Affairs said it appears to be a hoax threat and that there was no need to panic.
Delhi Police said it has conducted a thorough check of all schools that received the bomb threat but found nothing.
“Some schools of Delhi received emails regarding bomb threats. Delhi Police has conducted thorough check of all such schools as per protocol,” Delhi Police said in a post on X.
“Nothing objectionable has been found. It appears that these calls seem to be hoax. We request the public not to panic and maintain peace,” it said.
According to Delhi police officials, the email is suspected to have been sent from one source to schools in Delhi and adjoining Noida and Greater Noida.
Sources said the content of the mail to every school is the same.
The Union Home Ministry termed the bomb threat as a "hoax" and asked people not to panic.
Police and security agencies are taking necessary steps as per protocol, the ministry said.
"There is no need to panic. Mails appear to be hoax. Delhi Police and security agencies are taking necessary steps as per protocol," a home ministry official said.
Noida Police said all such schools that received the emails were thoroughly checked and the bomb threat was found to be a hoax, Additional Commissioner of Police (law and order) Shivhari Meena said.
"This morning a threatening email was received by a chain of schools after which police teams responded to the situation immediately," Additional CP Meena said.
"All such schools that received the threats were thoroughly checked and sanitised. At no place any such thing (threat) has come to light and it is proved that the email was sent to trigger a rumour," he said.
Reacting to the development, Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena wrote on X that he spoke to the police commissioner and sought a detailed report into the bomb threats at schools in Delhi-NCR.
"Directed Delhi Police to carry out a thorough search in school premises, identify the culprits and ensure there are no lapses," he said, requesting parents not to panic and cooperate with the administration in ensuring safety of schools and the children.
"The miscreants and culprits will not be spared," he added.
Delhi Education Minister Atishi also requested parents not to panic and wrote on X, "Some schools have received bomb threats this 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,” Atishi said.
Visuals from Mayur Vihar's Mother's Mary school showed concerned parents assembling outside the school to pick their children.
The school administration was seen making announcements on the microphone while parents rushed to collect their wards.
"I dropped my child 10-15 minutes ago. Then I received a call from the school to take my child back due to some emergency," Vijay Kumar, a parent, said.
"I had come to drop my children. I saw a lot of people had gathered here and there were shouts of people coming from inside the school. When we inquired, we didn't get any satisfactory response," Manoj Kumar, a local resident and parent of a student studying in the school said.
Similar visuals were seen outside Chanakyapuri's Sanskriti School where parents were seen rushing to pick their wards.
Fire tenders, ambulances and lines of police vehicles were seen on stand-by outside the schools, while bomb detection teams and bomb disposal squads were conducting searches inside the schools.
Kirti, another parent, said she dropped her son at BGS International School, Dwarka, and was waiting outside for him to go inside when she saw him return back with school staff.
"As usual I was waiting outside of the school when I saw my son returning back along with all the staff members. I was very worried… When some people shouted that there was a bomb in school, I immediately asked my son to sit on my scooter," she said.
Several schools called and sent messages to parents to urgently pick their wards from the school.
In Noida too, bomb disposal squads, sniffer dogs were rushed to the schools which received the threat. Overall security was beefed up in the twin cities as a precautionary measure.
The threat was sent to branches of Delhi Public School (DPS) in Noida and Greater Noida, and some other schools via emails by an anonymous sender, Noida police officials said.
Other schools that did not receive bomb threats were also flooded with queries by parents and guardians who were worried about their wards' safety.
According to police officials, initial investigations suggest that mails have been sent to multiple locations since Tuesday which appears to have the same pattern.
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Nothing wrong if Kharge wants to come back to Karnataka politics: G Parameshwara
Bengaluru(PTI): Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Tuesday said there is nothing wrong if party national President Mallikarjun Kharge wants to return to state politics.
He was responding to a question from reporters on Kharge's remarks, recalling how he lost the Chief Minister's post to S M Krishna after the 1999 Karnataka Assembly polls. Kharge's remarks added to the speculations of leadership change in Congress and about his return to state politics.
Senior Congress leader Parameshwara also said that wrongly interpreting Kharge is also not correct.
Kharge's statement seems to have rekindled the debate on 'Dalit CM' within the party. The AICC President, who hails from Karnataka, belongs to a Scheduled Caste.
Making a Dalit the CM is a hotly debated matter within the Congress party, the issue on which senior leaders and Ministers Parameshwara and H C Mahadevappa have openly spoken in the past. Both belong to Scheduled Castes.
These comments have come amid speculations within the state's political circles, especially within the ruling Congress, for some time now about the Chief Minister change later this year, citing a rumoured power-sharing agreement involving incumbent Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar.
"Kharge is a senior leader not only in our party, but in national politics, making comments on him is not right. Kharge is competent to hold all kinds of positions; he has experience, and he has been in politics for about 50 years. If he says something, interpreting it wrongly is not correct," Parameshwara told reporters in response to a question.
Asked about some speaking about his return to state politics, he said, "There is nothing wrong in it. He is holding the decisive position in our party. He is the one who decides as to who should be the Chief Minister, being the AICC President. So, in case he wants to come back to state politics, no one should interpret it wrong."
Speaking at an event in Vijayapura on Sunday, Kharge had recalled about him missing the Chief Ministerial post, when Congress came to power in 1999.
"As CLP (Congress Legislature Party) leader I tried to bring the party to power (ahead of 1999 polls), the party formed the government and S M Krishna became the Chief Minister. He had come (as KPCC President) four months ahead (of polls)....all my service was washed down the river. I feel that -- I toiled for five years, but the person who came four months ago was made the CM," the Congress chief had said.
"What I'm trying to say is, we may face difficulties, but we must continue to work without greed in mind. If you are greedy, you won't get anything, also you won't be able to do what's in your mind. Passing through all these things, from being a block president, I have now become AICC President. I did not go behind positions," he further said.
Mahadevappa too, reacting to Kharge's statement on Monday had said, Kharge is one of the senior leaders in the country and he has all the required qualities to occupy any constitutional post, and our wish is that he should get an opportunity, whenever there is one.
Naming Dalit leaders in Congress who have occupied the CM post in other states like -- Damodaram Sanjivayya, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Jagannath Pahadia and Ram Sundar Das, he said, "When time comes the party will take a decision and everyone will abide by it."
However, trying to downplay speculations, Kharge's son and IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge on Monday said his father was merely sharing the path he had walked in his political career -- both ups and downs -- and that his speech should be seen in entirety not selectively. He has also made it clear that he has no regrets.
"From the blessings of everyone, the people of Kalaburagi and Karnataka, he is in the post that was once occupied by Subhas Chandra Bose and Gandhiji. Whatever he has decided on his political future, he will decide himself. He has earned that respect and reputation. He has a good relationship with the high command. Whatever he decides, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi will automatically accept it," he said.
