Ludhiana MC offices get another hoax bomb threat email

Panic spread among the employees as the Municipal Corporation’s (MC) offices received another bomb threat mail on Wednesday.

The threat was later declared a hoax after the police’s bomb squad did a thorough sweep of the MC’s Zone D office and did not find any explosives.

“Anti-sabotage check was conducted at all four MC offices for precautionary purposes,” a senior police official said.

As the news of the threat spread among the employees, there was widespread unrest.

The email, citing terrorist organisations Babbar Khalsa and Khalistan National Army, used threatening language towards the MC and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

This was not the first threatening email sent to government offices and departments in the city. Earlier, several similar emails were sent to the MC and the Deputy Commissioner’s (DC) office. Many schools had also received similar hoax bomb threats.

Vaibhav Sehgal, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Cybercrime, said the cyber wing of the police launched an investigation to trace the source of email.

Earlier, on July 13, panic gripped KVM School on the Raikhy Cinema road after it received a bomb threat.

On June 17, the DC and MC offices received emails threatening explosions with “human bombs”. On May 25, unrest spread among officials after an email warning of bomb blasts at the Mayor’s office and the residence of Punjabi singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh was received on the official email account of the MC.

On May 18, six city schools received bomb threat emails. The emails also mentioned a bomb threat to the Halwara International Airport. On April 23, four city schools received threatening emails.

On March 10, ten schools in the city had received similar emails. On January 9, panic gripped the District Courts Complex here after a bomb threat email was received on the official email ID of the Sessions Division, prompting judges to vacate courtrooms.