No breakthrough in Golden Temple threat investigation

It has been around three weeks since the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) started receiving threatening emails to blow up the Golden Temple. However, the police have yet to make any significant breakthrough in the case. According to sources in SGPC, the committee has received around 20 threatening emails since July 14.

The police had detained a person named Shubham Dubey from Faridabad in Haryana following a technical probe. Although he joined the investigation and his laptop and mobile were sent for forensic analysis, the police are yet to find concrete evidence linking him to the case, said a senior police official privy to the investigation.

The Punjab Police have been facing problems tracing the digital footprints of the threatening emails as the unscrupulous elements used “Dark Net” and “Virtual Private Network” (VPN) to send them. The police authorities had approached US-based software companies for the digital footprints of the suspects, but they are yet to receive any response.

Apart from the threatening emails to the Golden Temple, many religious, historical, and strategically important places in the country have received similar threats, putting intelligence and security agencies on high alert. Sri Guru Ram Dass Ji International Airport had also received threats of an RDX blast. Security has been tightened in and around Darbar Sahib.

The SGPC authorities confirmed that they had received around 20 emails, although they had not received any such mail for the past five days. The committee has taken appropriate security measures and is in touch with the city police, which has also strengthened security. Despite the threats, there is a normal rush of devotees at the shrine, and it has not seen any decline.