After high drama enveloped the Delhi and Mumbai High Court on Friday, prompting evacuation of judges, lawyers, staff and litigants from courtrooms as a result of bomb threat e-mails, Delhi and Mumbai Police declared it a hoax. In Delhi HC, the threat email came by morning and in Bombay it came by afternoon. The email, the contents indicate that the mail originated from Tamil Nadu.
In Delhi, the commotion began after the court administration received an e-mail threatening an attack and triggered a thorough search operation by the police, fire officials, bomb disposal and dog squads. The e-mail, received by the Registrar General at around 8.39 am, warned of explosions in judges’ chambers and courtrooms around mid-day.
The information prompted the court staff to alert the judges while proceedings were underway. Several judges left their respective courtrooms at around 11.35 am whereas others continued till noon before rising. However, the court proceedings resumed at around 2:30 pm as per normal schedule after the police declared it a hoax.
New Delhi DCP Devesh Kumar Mahla, however, upon examination of the e-mail revealed to media persons later that the bomb threat was fake. “We have investigated the email, and it turned out to be false. There is no connection between this threat and the bomb threats received by schools in the last few weeks,” he said.
The Bombay High Court administration received a bomb threat email on afternoon, which led to suspension of hearings for nearly two hours, but it turned out to be a hoax as nothing suspicious was found, police said.
“A bomb threat email was received by the Bombay HC authorities in the afternoon. A thorough search was conducted, but nothing suspicious was found. It turned out to be a hoax mail,” a senior police official said. Officials said the legal work remained suspended for nearly two hours and it began around 3 pm.