Punjab: 16 private schools in Mohali receive bomb threat emails
Chandigarh (PTI): Sixteen private schools in Punjab's Mohali received bomb threat emails on Wednesday, triggering evacuation and prompting detailed anti-sabotage checks by police, an officer said.
No suspicious or explosive material was discovered at any of the locations after thorough inspections, the officer said.
School authorities sent messages to parents, declaring a holiday. Students on their way to school were sent back home, they said.
Manav Mangal School, Shivalik Public School, and Learning Paths School were among the schools which received the bomb threat emails.
The police said they swung into action after school authorities reported receiving the emails between 7.30 am and 8 am.
Security was mounted at the targeted schools, and intensive searches were carried out, they said.
"The police teams led by superintendents of police, deputy superintendents of police and other officials were rushed to the schools along with anti-sabotage teams and bomb disposal squads," Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Harmandeep Singh Hans told reporters.
Around 300 policemen were involved in the search operation, and all targeted schools were evacuated, he said.
The checking of all schools was completed within about two-and-a-half hours with the support of additional force and specialised teams from neighbouring districts of Fatehgarh Sahib, Rupnagar, and Chandigarh headquarters, Hans said.
"No explosive material was found at any of the locations," he added.
The search operations were supervised by SP City Dilpreet Singh, along with SPs Navneet Singh Mahal, Mohit Aggarwal, Sukhnaz Singh, Ramandeep Singh and Talwinder Singh Gill; DSP City-1 Prithvi Singh Chahal, DSP City-2 Harsimran Singh Bal and all station house officers.
Schools covered during the search included Amity School, Doon School, Learning Paths, Gurukul School, Vivek High School, Paragon School, YPS School, Lawrence School, and Gem Public School.
An FIR is being lodged, and the case has been referred to the Cyber Police Station, Phase-7, Mohali, to ascertain the origin of the threatening email and conduct an investigation, Hans said.
The latest scare comes close on the heels of similar threat incidents in Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala, and schools in Haryana, all of which turned out to be hoaxes.
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4-member DGCA team visits Ajit Pawar plane crash site in Baramati
Pune (PTI): A four-member team of senior DGCA officials has visited the site of the plane crash that killed Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar and four others last month near Baramati in Pune district.
During their visit on Wednesday, they reviewed the CCTV camera footage and videos linked to the January 28 incident, said local officials.
Ajit Pawar, Captain Sumit Kapoor, co-pilot Capt. Shambhavi Pathak, Personal Security Officer (PSO) Vidip Jadhav, and flight attendant Pinky Mali were killed when the Learjet aircraft they were on board crashed near the Baramati airport in Pune district.
ALSO READ: Wait for DGCA probe to conclude in Ajit Pawar plane crash case, says CM Fadnavis
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation after the death of Pawar and four others after the plane crash, Baramati has an ‘uncontrolled airfield’ (one without a dedicated Air Traffic Control), and traffic information is provided by instructors/pilots from the local flying training organisations.
Union Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu had said the investigation into the plane crash would follow a time-bound approach.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) and the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had visited the site, and the Black Box of the ill-fated aircraft had been recovered.
An official on January 30 stated that the Maharashtra Crime Investigation Department (CID) had initiated its probe into the plane crash.
NCP (SP) MLA and late Ajit Pawar's nephew, Rohit Pawar, had raised several questions regarding the sequence of events leading up to the plane crash.
He alleged that there was a reason to suspect sabotage in the tragic incident and demanded a comprehensive probe by multiple expert agencies.
