More than 100 schools in Capital of India received hoax email of bomb threat, ahead general elections

Around 100 schools in Delhi NCR received a bomb threat early in the morning. According to the information, five schools named, Mother Mary school at Mayur Vihar, Delhi Public School at Dwarka and Sanskriti school at Chanakyapuri were the first ones, to declare emergency after the school’s official email address received alleged threat regrading explosives. Since then, nearly 100 schools in National capital of the country, asked students and teachers to leave the premises immediately, after the similar warnings. Meanwhile, an exam conducted by one of the schools were interfered due to search operation, and students were asked to stop and leave. Parents were given message via mails that said, ‘This is to inform you that the school has received an email that threatens the safety and security of the students. As a precautionary measure we are sending the students back home immediately’, Mrs. Anita told. Her two children study at Delhi Public School, and were two out of many students, who left school before the scheduled time.

Bomb detention teams, bomb defusal squads and fire emergency vehicles were seen outside school buildings, everywhere. However, Delhi’s education Minister Atishi, later confirmed that nothing suspicious has been found in any of the schools, yet. Delhi roads were busy, crowded and worried parents were seen looking for their children, or in hurry to take them to a safer place, throughout the day.
Mrs. Anita Chaturvedi told EAT news, ‘I sent them (children) to school like every other day and after an hour or so, I received an email saying, ‘for security reasons we are sending students back home’, and for a minute I couldn’t understand the real context of it, until i watched news that said, all the schools in Delhi received bomb threats and school authorities are evacuating the building with the help of police security guards. I rushed to take them. There school is 15-20 minutes away from where we live, so I was able to bring them home before, 11:00 am.’ She further added that, even though by end of the day, it was declared hoax, but no parent wants to hear such news while their kids are out in unsafe zone. Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena said the police have traced the origin of the bomb threat emails which appear to be a hoax, quoted NDTV. According to the information, a single IP address is used to sent those hoax mails to all the schools whereas the email address has a Russian domain, however the rest details are still to be investigated.

When asked, what could be the reason behind all of it, Mrs. Chaturvedi very abruptly blamed politics and upcoming general elections. She said, ‘This all is happening because of elections. Current Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is arrested and state is running without his presence in public. And elections are one of significant days, that requires lot of security and proper arrangements to go smoothly. And so, there could be a possibility that opposition has planted one of these hoax to question the safety and security of Delhi people, in absence of Chief Minister.’ There are also rumors going among parents that, president rule could be coming soon, in state. While people are speculating multiple reasons behind the bomb threat sent to all schools in Delhi. Similarly, earlier in February, Delhi Public School in RK Puram received bomb threat that turned out to be hoax, later.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal got arrested on March 21, 2024 after not responding to Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) summon. He is being questioned regarding money laundering case associated with Delhi excise policy scam and is behind the bars. Mrs. Chaturvedi supports Kejriwal’s political party and believes, opposition is behind the arrest and is trying to benefit from the situation. ‘I have supported Aam Aadmi Party throughout because of the genuine developments. Education, healthcare has become so convenient and affordable for people in Delhi and it has personally helped my family. Dirty politics can lead to any circumstances, just for that seat’, she said. On asking, is it affecting Delhi people in any way that their Chief Minister is behind bars, to which she said, ‘Like any other state or country, Delhi also needs Chief Minister to run smoothly. But nothing has changed or affected people directly or indirectly since his arrest. Bus services, hospitals, Mohalla clinics, schools, shops, everything is running normally.’

While supporters of Chief Minister are looking this hoax email as a strategy by opposition to benefit from the situation amid his absence, safety and security has raised questions on the absence of Arvind Kejriwal. Recently, Sunita Kejriwal, wife of Arvind Kejriwal holds massive roadshow to maintain his governance in public, ahead elections. She said, ‘We will vote remove dictatorship and save democracy’. With political party AAP emerging as a capable opposition against BJP, along with Congress and others, it has become frequent target of many BJP spokespersons.