Delhi teen’s bomb hoax saga: How he evaded cops for a year

For almost an entire year, security agencies were on high alert, rushing to evacuate children from schools and sometimes even hospitals. The reason was bomb threat emails that sent them into a frenzy. Despite thorough investigations, the police often met with dead ends. Although there were a few successful apprehensions, a large chunk of cases remained unsolved.

However, on January 8, another threat email warning over 25 schools of explosives on their premises was thoroughly investigated, and the police finally made a major breakthrough. A teenage boy was found to be involved in sending threats to over 400 schools in the past year. But how did he evade the police for so long?

The accused teenager, a juvenile studying in a public school, told the police during questioning that he wanted to delay his examinations and therefore sent the threat emails. However, as the investigation progressed, the police found inconsistencies in his statements. “It wasn’t like he sent a threat email every time there was an examination,” a senior officer privy to the probe said.

A forensic analysis of his mobile and laptop revealed that he was using high-tech devices. The police were suspicious of his statements and conducted a technical analysis, which showed that the accused used multiple anonymous and encrypted email service providers and advanced tools to conceal his identity.

It was also discovered that the teenager masked his IP address using a VPN. The hoax threats were delivered through heavily encrypted email services and complex digital pathways, clearly indicating an intent to conceal his identity and evade detection. However, this time, the police uncovered his digital trail using advanced technical methods.

“We employed advanced cyber forensic techniques to trace the origin of the threat emails and identified him,” the senior police officer said.