Maharashtra authorities placed the state on high alert on Monday after emails threatening bomb explosions were received by district courts in Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Pune, Nagpur, Beed, Hingoli and other cities. The threats also referred to possible attacks at metro stations and a November 27 concert by singer Diljit Dosanjh at Mumbai’s Mahalaxmi Racecourse.
In Mumbai, the emails named the Mazgaon, Dindoshi and Esplanade courts. The bomb detection and disposal squad, accompanied by sniffer dogs, carried out checks at multiple court complexes, but no suspicious object was found, a police officer told the Times of India. Authorities were continuing to assess the threats while security agencies worked to identify the sender or senders.
Similar emails prompted the evacuation of the two buildings housing the Thane district court. “The two buildings housing Thane district court have been evacuated, and a thorough checking operation has been carried out,” said Balasaheb Patil, deputy commissioner of police, Zone 1. Police checks were also conducted at courts in other districts after the messages were received.
In Pune, extensive searches continued until late evening at the Shivajinagar court complex. Police sources in Palghar said the emails had been sent to courts across the state from the same email address and arrived at intervals of about 30 minutes. Courts in Nanded, Beed, Satara and Parbhani were also reported to have received the threat message.
The emails allegedly warned of attacks on metro stations on “9.11” and referred to an alleged plan to place an improvised explosive device inside an iPhone at the Diljit Dosanjh programme. The report did not establish whether the references represented a credible operational threat or an attempt to create panic. Police responses included evacuations, searches and heightened security at affected public facilities.
Monday’s messages followed a similar email received by the office of Mumbai mayor Ritu Tawde on October 23. That earlier message had warned of attacks at the mayor’s office, the American School in Bandra-Kurla Complex, actor Amitabh Bachchan’s residence in Juhu and the concert involving Dosanjh scheduled for later in November.
Mumbai Police said they were in the process of registering a first information report against the unidentified email sender or senders. The crime branch and cyber cell were assigned to trace the source of the messages, while local police and bomb-disposal teams continued checks at the affected court complexes. No suspicious material had been reported in the searches described in the report.
