BENGALURU: Scare and tension gripped 16 schools in Bengaluru on Friday after they received emails that said powerful bombs had been planted on their campus and they would go off killing hundreds of people.
The school managements alerted the police control room, following which bomb-defusal squads, accompanied by sniffer dogs, screened the premises before declaring that the threat emails were hoax. Police said all emails had the same text but were sent from different mail IDs. Some schools received emails on their various IDs. Cops are yet to conclude whether the mails were the job of pranksters or miscreants acting with an agenda.
"A very powerful bomb has been planted in your school. Attention, it is not a joke. A powerful bomb has been planted and immediately call the police and sappers, hundreds of lives may suffer, including yours, do not delay. Now, everything is in your hands!" ran the text of all the hoax bomb mails.
Additional commissioner of police (East) Subramanyeshwara Rao said they have formed a special team to trace the miscreants who sent the mails.
"At least eight schools received the hoax calls through the emails sent to them on Friday at different timings. The emails were sent from different mail IDs and we are tracing the mischief mongers. The school authorities, after receiving the mails, called the police control room. We pressed bomb defusing squads along with sniffer dogs into service. Special teams under two deputy commissioners of police from East and Whitefield division are investigating the matter," he said.
Similarly, Bengaluru Rural SP Kona Vamsi Krishna said they are probing emails to six schools in his jurisdiction. Most schools in the east and Whitefield divisions received the mail from malinda.boron729@g*****.com. The other emails were sent were dennyjasons@g****, robertperez8932@g*** and beierzollie678@g****.
According to investigating officers, the emails reached the schools between 11am and 2.15pm.
"Some schools got 2-3 mails from the same mail ID, while they got from other IDs also. By evening or night, we will be able to trace the location from where the mails were sent," an investigating officer said.
