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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Telangana CM urges Amit Shah to increase sanctioned strength of IPS officers in state
Hyderabad (PTI): Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi on Wednesday night and urged him to increase the sanctioned strength of IPS officers to the state in view of its growing administrative and security needs.
The two leaders also discussed the recent surrender of several senior Maoist leaders before the Telangana Police and other issues.
"During the meeting, the two leaders discussed the issue of Maoist surrenders and their rehabilitation. The chief minister informed Shah that significant improvements in policing have taken place in Telangana over the past two years," an official release here said.
Highlighting that 591 Maoists have laid down their arms and joined the mainstream of society during this period, the chief minister said the state government was providing them compensation and rehabilitation assistance as per the rules.
He requested the Union home minister to extend financial support from the central government for development works in the backward regions of the state.
Reddy also urged Shah to increase the sanctioned strength of IPS officers to the state from 83 to 105 in line with the state's growing administrative and security needs, the statement said.
The first cadre review after the formation of Telangana was conducted in 2016, while the next review, due in 2021, was delayed and finally carried out in 2025. Even then, only seven additional IPS officers were allocated to the state, the chief minister informed Shah and requested that the third cadre review be conducted in 2026 as per the schedule.
Reddy explained that Telangana, like the rest of the country, is facing several modern challenges, including cybercrime, drug trafficking, white-collar crimes, and other emerging security threats.
He highlighted the reorganisation of the Hyderabad, Cyberabad, and Malkajgiri Police Commissionerates, the proposed formation of the Future City Commissionerate and the rapidly growing population in Hyderabad to underline the increasing administrative requirements of the state.
