Pramesh S Jain & Dr.Thomas (Special Correspondent)
P
anic gripped parents following an email threat received by as many as 48 schools in and around Bengaluru on Friday, December 1.
The administration alerted the police before sending alerts to parents about the emergency situation,requesting them to take back their children.
Police, along with the bomb disposal squad,rushed to the schools and conducted search operations.The threat email warns of explosive devices on school grounds.
“Certain schools in Bengaluru city have received emails today morning indicating ‘bomb threat’. Anti-sabotage and bomb detection squads have been pressed into service to verify and ascertain. The calls seem to be hoax. Even then all efforts will be made to trace the culprits,” Bengaluru Police Commissioner B. Dayananda said.
A special cybercrime team is trying to track down the culprits using records of the masked IP address. Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and Leader of Opposition R. Ashok visited the schools and pacified the parents, assuring them of taking strict action.
It may be recalled that this is the second time such a hoax mail is being received by schools. Home Minister G.Parameshwara also promised stringent action against the perpetrators.
“We have taken all precautionary measures and parents need not panic. The cyber crime police are already working to track down the accused through IP address,” he said.
Meanwhile, many schools which did not receive any threat mails have also sent children back home due to pressure from anxious parents. In light of the security threat to schools, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has instructed the police department to beef up security in Bengaluru. He also requested the parents to not worry.
“After speaking to the police, I have instructed them to provide security everywhere in the city and be alert to track down the culprits,” he said.
“Parents should not worry. A report has been received in this regard. Such a hoax call has been received before too,” he added.
Home minister G parameshwar later in the evening conveyed a meeting with senior officials to get an update and directed them to take stern action against such incidents occurred again and again.
Investigations so far revealed that the accused had emailed the threat letter from Cyprus using a private domain..
The accused have also sent similar emails to Germany , Caribbean and malysia in this year.
The police are now trying to track him down in coordination with the counterparts of the other countries.
