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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Odisha: Normalcy returns to violence-hit Malkangiri; internet services fully restored
Malkangiri (PTI): Normalcy returned to Odisha’s Malkangiri district on Monday, nearly a week after around 200 villages were damaged in violent clashes in a village, with the district administration fully restoring internet services, a senior official said.
Additional District Magistrate Bedabar Pradhan said internet services, suspended across the district on December 8 to curb the spread of rumours and misinformation following the clashes, were restored after the situation improved.
The suspension had been extended in phases till 12 noon on Monday.
The administration also withdrew prohibitory orders imposed under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita within a 10-km radius of MV-26 village, where arson incidents were reported on December 7 and December 8.
Though the violence was confined to two villages, tension had gripped the entire district, as the incident took the form of a clash between local tribals and Bengali settlers following the recovery of a headless body of a woman on December 4, officials said.
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The violence broke out after residents of Rakhelguda village allegedly set ablaze several houses belonging to Bengali residents, forcing hundreds to flee. The headless body of Lake Podiami (51), a woman from the Koya tribe, was recovered from the banks of the Poteru river on December 4, while her head was found six days later at a location about 15 km away.
Officials said the district administration held several rounds of discussions with representatives of the tribal and Bengali communities, following which both sides agreed to maintain peace.
Relief and rehabilitation work has since been launched at MV-26 village, with preliminary assessment pegging property damage at around Rs 3.8 crore.
A two-member ministerial team headed by Deputy Chief Minister K V Singh Deo visited the affected village, interacted with officials and locals, and submitted a report to the chief minister.
So far, 18 people have been arrested in connection with the violence, the officials said, adding that despite the withdrawal of prohibitory orders and restoration of internet services, security forces, including BSF and CRPF personnel, continue to be deployed to prevent any untoward incident.
On Sunday, Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi visited MV-26 and neighbouring Rakhelguda villages, and held discussions with members of both communities as part of efforts to rebuild confidence and restore peace.
More than two lakh Bengali-speaking Bangladeshis were rehabilitated by the Centre in Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts in 1968, and they currently reside in 124 villages of Malkangiri.
