A Maharashtra court bomb threat triggered high alert measures across the state on Monday after emails warning of explosions were received by courts in Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Pune, Nagpur, Beed, Hingoli, Nanded, Satara and Parbhani, according to a report by the Times of India. Police searches at several locations found nothing suspicious, while investigations were launched to trace the sender or senders.
In Mumbai, the emails threatened explosions at the Mazgaon, Dindoshi and Esplanade court complexes. The city’s bomb detection and disposal squad, assisted by sniffer dogs, conducted extensive checks at the sites, but no suspicious object was found, a police officer said. Mumbai Police were in the process of registering a first information report against the unidentified sender or senders.
The emails also allegedly referred to attacks on Metro stations on “9.11” and threatened a programme by singer Diljit Dosanjh at Mahalaxmi Racecourse on November 27. The message reportedly claimed that an improvised explosive device could be concealed inside an iPhone. Authorities did not report any discovery of explosives in connection with the threats.
Similar emails prompted evacuations in Thane, Hingoli and Beed. “The two buildings housing Thane district court have been evacuated, and a thorough checking operation has been carried out,” Balasaheb Patil, deputy commissioner of police, Zone 1, said. Searches at the Shivajinagar court complex in Pune continued into the evening.
Police sources in Palghar said the emails had been sent to courts across the state from the same email address and were received at intervals of about 30 minutes. The reported spread of the messages across multiple court complexes brought several judicial facilities under coordinated security checks and temporarily disrupted their normal operations.
The threats followed a similar email received by the office of Mumbai mayor Ritu Tawde on October 23. That message warned of attacks at the mayor’s office, the American School in Bandra Kurla Complex, the Juhu residence of actor Amitabh Bachchan and the planned Diljit Dosanjh concert. The Mumbai Crime Branch and cyber cell have been assigned to trace the source of the latest emails, according to the report. Further action will depend on the investigation and security assessments at the affected locations.
