Noida, Ahmedabad schools get hoax bomb threats

Several private schools in Noida and Ahmedabad reportedly received bomb threats via e-mails just three days before the 77th Republic Day. Following the incident, the school was evacuated urgently and all the students were sent back safely to their respective houses straight away after receiving the information. After getting the bomb threat, the prinicipals of the respective schools intimated the parents of the students about it. During the search, no suspicious or objectionable items were found.

This latest incident, just three days before Republic Day, continues a recurring pattern that has disrupted classrooms and unsettled parents. The episode fits into a wider and persistent trend. The area of Delhi NCR has witnessed the maximum bomb threat hoaxes targeting educational institutions in India from 2025 and early 2026, in some instances as part of a wave of threatening emails that soon extended to other urban centers.  

However, in investigations carried out by state police forces regarding all threatening incidents, it has been found that they were all hoaxes.

According to Noida police, around 20 private schools in Noida received threat emails on Friday, prompting heightened security checks, though the situation remained under control. Shiv Nadar School in Sector 168 and Fr. Angel School in Sector 62 were among the schools that received such emails.

Senior officers, personnel from various police stations, bomb disposal squads, fire services, dog squads and BDDS (bomb detection and disposal squad) teams rushed to the affected schools. Intensive checks were carried out at the premises of some private institutions, while a cyber team began technical analysis of the emails, according to a police press note.

Officials said preliminary assessment suggests the threats are non-specific. However, investigations are ongoing to trace the source of the emails and determine intent.Around 20 private schools across Gautam Buddh Nagar district received the threat emails, including one email originating from a foreign address, police said.

In an email sent to parents, Shiv Nadar School informed that the school would remain closed on Friday, January 23. They said that the school buses were being sent back, and requested the parents to receive their kids at designated drop-off points. Meanwhile, Cambridge School said that a bomb threat was received via email, following which parents were informed through a message and were asked to pick up their children as a precautionary measure.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Rajeev Narayan Mishra told reporters that senior officials, bomb squad teams, dog squads and police personnel were conducting thorough checks at the schools after receiving the threat emails.”We have examined the emails and the cyber team is carrying out a technical investigation. The situation is normal and people should not pay attention to rumours,” Mishra said.

An FIR has been registered at the Cyber Police Station under Sections 353, 351(3) and 351(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, police said, adding that efforts are underway to trace the source of the emails.Police have intensified checking and surveillance in crowded places, educational institutions and other sensitive locations to ensure public safety, they said.

Similar incidents were reported in December last year when several schools in Noida received hoax bomb threat emails.

In May 2024, multiple private schools in Noida and Greater Noida had also received bomb threats via email, triggering evacuations and panic among parents, though no explosives were discovered.Police said they are maintaining strict vigilance and appropriate legal action will be taken after the technical investigation.

Similarly, nearly a dozen schools in Ahmedabad received anonymous emails threatening bomb blasts on Friday, prompting police to conduct a thorough search of the institutions, during which nothing suspicious was found, officials said.The threats received by schools in the morning hours sent schools and parents into a tizzy, but later turned out to be a hoax, police said.

Prominent institutions, including DPS, Army School, and Mahatma Gandhi International School, received emails threatening blasts, warning them against hoisting the tricolour on Republic Day and calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah “enemies of Khalistan”, they said.

“Around a dozen schools received these emails, and an extensive search was carried out with the help of the bomb detection and disposal squads (BDDS), but nothing was found on the premises. These emails have turned out to be hoaxes,” said Rahul Tripathi, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Special Operations Group.

The city cybercrime branch will register an FIR and initiate a probe into the matter.According to the police, the email said there would be a bomb blast at 1.11 pm.”Modi-Shah are enemies of Khalistan...Save your children. Do not raise the Indian ‘tiranga’ in schools on January 26. Khalistan-Bangladesh zindabad,” it said.