North Block receives bomb threat email, turns out to be hoax

An officer, who did not wish to be named, said the mail was sent from an anonymous Gmail address and the sender is suspected to have used a VPN that masks IP address

The North Block is home to the home ministry office. Authorities thought the bomb threat that sparked concerns there on Wednesday was a hoax as nothing odd was found. According to a Delhi Fire Services (DFS) official, the threat was sent by email to a top ministry staffer at around 3:30 pm. The email claimed that the "building will explode as a bomb is planted," according to a police officer. The IP address and other contact details are being looked into.

A PTI report stated that an unidentified officer, who wished to remain unknown, stated that the email was sent from a Gmail account and that the sender may have used a VPN to conceal their IP address. As the Delhi Police Special Cell has already started looking into the incident, the officer anticipates that they would file a complaint. For the search at the North Block, military personnel, police officers, firefighters, dog teams, bomb disposal and detection units were sent in.

Fire official Prem Lal said two fire tenders were also there. The Delhi Police after conducting a thorough search of the building announced the bomb threat to be a hoax. "A thorough search has been carried out in the entire building and nothing suspicious has been found. Security agencies have concluded that the mail was a hoax," a source in the home ministry said. In the past few weeks, bomb threat emails have been received by many establishments in the national capital, including schools and hospitals.

On April 30, a bomb threat was received by Delhi's Chacha Nehru Hospital, and on May 1, threats were received by over 150 schools via a Russian postal service provider. On May 12, a Cyprus-based mailing service company sent bomb threats via emails to twenty hospitals, the IGI Airport, and the Northern Railways CPRO headquarters in Delhi. On May 14, threats of bombs were received by seven hospitals in Delhi and the Tihar Jail from the same Cyprus-based postal service provider. The email bomb threats are being looked examined by the Delhi Police.

(With Inputs from PTI)

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