New Delhi:
Weeks after a string of bomb hoaxes triggered panic at dozens of schools in Delhi, the city police have uncovered a meticulous plan by a minor to skip exams at his school. They have taken into custody the Class 12 student after finding out his role behind the bomb threats that put the entire city administration on alert on several days.
He had sent bomb threat emails at least six times, each time marking different schools except his own. To avoid suspicion, he always tagged multiple schools on the mail, said officials, adding that he once sent a mail to 23 schools.
Officials said the minor did not want to appear for exam at school and devised a plan to set the stage for bomb threats, which he assumed would disrupt the exams and get those cancelled.
Read: “Give $30,000 Or…”: Bomb Hoax At Over 40 Delhi Schools, Students Sent Home
Dozens of such bomb hoaxes had kept authorities on alert in the past few weeks, with former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal saying Delhi never had such a bad state of law and order.
Students were sent back while the bomb squad and sniffer dogs took over campuses. They would end up with nothing suspicious at the end of the day, but a day would get wasted giving a surprise holiday to the students.
In one such incident last month, over 40 schools – including DPS RK Puram and GD Goenka School in Paschim Vihar – received a bomb threat via email. The email said small bombs were planted inside the school buildings and demanded $30,000 to defuse those.
The bomb threats also triggered a political row with Chief Minister Atishi slamming the BJP-ruled central government over the law and order situation. The police in the national capital are under the Union Home Ministry and not the Delhi government.
Read: ‘Wanted Attention’: Unemployed Delhi Man Arrested For Threats To Airlines
Facing such frequent fake threats, the city police had also started training teachers and school staff in dealing with such crises. A seminar was organised by the police and the Education department on handling such situations.
Besides schools, several airlines also received a spate of bomb hoaxes during this period, sparking panic in the aviation world and among law enforcement officials. It led to emergency landings, disrupting flight timings and resulting in excessive fuel usage.
A 25-year-old unemployed man was detained by Delhi Police last year for one such bomb hoax, while in another case, a 17-year-old dropout was taken into custody in Mumbai for trying to frame a friend by sending the threat mail.
