Bomb Threat Emails Target Mumbai Mayor’s Office, Schools, Bachchan Home; Searches Find Nothing

Mumbai/Navi Mumbai: The city police carried out searches on Friday morning after the mayor Ritu Tawde’s office received an email warning of attacks at her office, American School in BKC, the Juhu home of actor

Amitabh Bachchan and actor-singer

Diljit Dosanjh’s concert scheduled to be held next month.

The BKC police, along with the bomb disposal and detection squad, combed the entire American school premises on Friday after it received a bomb threat mail at 10.30 am. No FIR has been filed so far by the school management. “The school was searched for 45 minutes. Nothing was found. It is the same mail that was received by the Mumbai Mayor today,” said a BKC police officer.

A Juhu police officer said security has been beefed up at Bachchan’s bungalows. “Extra forces were deployed, especially on Saturdays and Sundays, as the superstar comes to meet his fans. Also, daily patrolling has been increased,” said the officer.

The email sender Smith Johnson used a pro-Khalistan slogan. It said, “Mumbai Bombay Bolega Khalistan Zindabad.” The email threatened bomb blasts at the mayor’s office at 3.11 pm, a school at 1.11 pm, saying, “Apne Bachay Bachao (protect your children).”

Soon after the email was received, the BMC officials alerted the Azad Maidan police. Police personnel and a bomb detection and disposal squad (BDDS) arrived at the BMC HQ near Azad Maidan in south Mumbai.

Manish Kalwaniya, DCP, Zone 1, South Region, said, “A threat mail was received at the BMC office; checking has been done, and nothing suspicious was found.”

The email, which mentioned words like Khalistan National Army and Babbar Khalsa, warned of a grenade attack at Bachchan’s Jalsa bungalow between Oct 31 and Nov 27. It also threatened a suicide attack at Dosanjh’s concert on Nov 27 at Mahalaxmi Racecourse.

Five private schools in Navi Mumbai also received bomb threat emails on Friday. The email sender claimed to be from Khalistan National Army.

Yogesh Chavan, DCP (Special Branch), said, “The bomb threat emails were received by three Vibgyor schools in Airoli, CBD-Belapur and Kharghar and Ryan International schools in Sanpada and Kharghar.”

DCP (Zone-3) Rashmi Nandedkar said that the emails were sent to Vibgyor School and Rayan International in Kharghar on Friday around 11.30 am. As the school administration alerted the local police, a police team was immediately sent to the spot with BDDS and a sniffer dog. The students and teachers were immediately evacuated from the school premises, and a search operation was carried out. However, no suspicious explosive device was found on the school premises. Hence, it was concluded that they were hoax bomb threats. Subsequently, the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the email sender will be traced by the cyber crime cell.

Sanjay Joshi, senior inspector of Kharghar, said, “Upon receiving a bomb threat email, the Vibgyor School in Kharghar informed the parents to take their children home to ensure their safety. Accordingly, the parents picked up their wards from school, while for those travelling by school bus, the school management made the arrangements accordingly.”

Balkrushna Sawant, senior inspector of Rabale, said, “As a complaint was lodged for a bomb threat email at Vibgyor school, Airoli, we have registered a non-cognisable offence against the email sender.”

On Aug 7 this year, mayor Tawde’s office received a bomb threat on her official email warning of explosions at multiple locations in the city ahead of Independence Day. The threatening email, received by the mayor’s office, allegedly claimed that bomb blasts would be carried out in Mumbai before Aug 15 and specifically threatened the mayor’s office, the Mumbai Metro network, schools and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The email reportedly urged parents not to send their children to school and advised commuters to avoid travelling by the metro.

On March 12 this year, Vidhan Bhavan received a bomb threat by email, leading to the evacuation of all staff and a massive search operation. The threat email mentioned words like “Missile bomb attacks”. It also mentioned places like Vidhan Sabha Mumbai, the stock exchange, some banks, courts and metros. The email also mentioned ‘Khalistan National Army’. Police said that an offence was registered at the Marine Drive police station on the complaint of the security officer of Vidhan Bhavan about the hoax mail that threatened a bomb blast.