Jilted in love, woman behind fake bomb threat emails to Bengaluru schools arrested
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Bengaluru: The Cyber Crime Police of Bengaluru North Division have arrested a woman identified as Rene Joshilda for allegedly sending fake bomb threat emails to several schools and colleges in the city.
According to police, 30-year-old Rene Joshilda, originally from Tamil Nadu, was brought to Bengaluru from Ahmedabad Central Jail in Gujarat through a body warrant. During interrogation, she reportedly admitted to having sent the fake bomb threats.
Rene, a robotic engineer by profession and a BE graduate, had previously worked with a private company. On June 14, a private school under the Kalasipalya police limits received an email claiming a bomb threat. Similar emails were later sent to other schools across Bengaluru, causing widespread panic.
City Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh had transferred the investigation of these serial fake bomb threat cases to the Cyber Crime Police of the North Division. Using technical analysis, the police traced the messages back to Rene.
Investigations revealed that the accused had been using VPN services to hide her location and operated multiple WhatsApp accounts, around six to seven, using virtual numbers created through the Gatecode application. Police said she had sent fake bomb threats not only to schools in Karnataka but also to educational institutions across at least 11 other states.
The accused reportedly took to this activity after a personal dispute. She was said to be in love with a man named Prabhakar from Bengaluru, who rejected her. When he got married to another woman earlier this year, Rene allegedly decided to tarnish his image. She created an email account using his name and sent threatening messages to various schools and institutions across India, claiming that “schools would be blown up like the Air India plane crash at Narendra Modi Stadium in Gujarat.”
Rene has seven cases registered against her in Bengaluru alone and more than 40 cases across Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Punjab, and other states. She was earlier arrested by Ahmedabad police and sent to judicial custody. After her role was confirmed in the Bengaluru cases through technical evidence, city police took her into custody for further questioning.
Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh confirmed that investigations are ongoing into her involvement in similar fake bomb threat cases nationwide.
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Man sets fire to gas cylinder on truck in Kerala's Kottayam, held
Kottayam(Kerala) (PTI): A 33-year-old man climbed onto a parked truck carrying cooking gas cylinders and set fire to one of them near Thalayolaparambu in the small hours of Saturday, police said.
The incident occurred around 12.30 am, they said.
The fire and rescue personnel soon arrived at the scene and extinguished the fire, averting a major disaster.
According to police, the man is suspected to be under mental distress as he claimed that he was walking from Ernakulam to his home in Marangattupilly here when he saw the truck on the roadside.
An FIR under sections 329(3)(criminal trespass),324(2)(mischief),326(f)(mischief by injury, inundation, fire or explosive substance) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was lodged against him.
Police said that the man was formally arrested, but will be released on station bail as the offences he is accused of are bailable.
"His family is here at the station and he will be released to them," the officer said.
In the FIR, police have said that the man opened the seal of one of the gas cylinders and set fire to it with the knowledge that his act was dangerous to those living in the area.
According to the company transporting the cooking gas cylinders, it suffered a loss of Rs 2,300 in the incident.
