After at least 100 schools in Delhi-NCR received a bomb threat via email on Wednesday morning, investigators believe the email originated from a server in Russia, according to sources. According to sources, the email was sent to all schools from a single IP address. When word spread about the bomb threats, parents began racing to schools to pick up their children. The Delhi police have established that the threats were fake and are investigating further.
Several schools in Delhi-NCR got the threats via email at about 4 a.m. By 12 p.m., the fire control room had received bomb threat calls from 97 different schools. This prompted a large-scale search operation, which included bomb squads and sniffer dogs. The police suspect that the phony emails were received from a location in Russia.
Further investigation is proceeding, and the police have asked the parents not to panic because the matter is under control. A few months ago, identical threats were received by schools in Bangalore, causing panic. That, too, proved to be a fake. The increasing frequency of these cyber-hoax emails is troubling since they target vulnerable areas such as schools.
The Delhi Government’s Directorate of Education has told the Delhi High Court that it has a “zero-tolerance policy” for school safety and responds to calamities “including bomb threats.” In a status report filed on April 29, the DoE stated that it had issued directives to schools to increase safety and security measures, as well as outlining the school’s responsibility in the event of a bomb threat. Separate entry and exit in the school building. Identifying susceptible sites such as poorly illuminated parking lots, parking lots too close to the school building, and difficult-to-monitor regions.