Delhi courts, schools evacuated after hoax bomb threats

Multiple courts in Delhi, including Saket, Dwarka and Patiala House, as well as two CRPF-run schools, received bomb threats on Tuesday (November 18) morning, triggering extensive security checks and precautionary measures across the national capital, officials said

Courts evacuated after bomb scare

Three court complexes in Delhi, including the Saket District Court and Patiala House Court, were evacuated after receiving bomb threat e-mails. Authorities temporarily suspended court proceedings as a precautionary measure.

Also Read: Air India flight AI188 receives bomb threat mid-air, lands safely in Delhi

Several witnesses reported seeing bomb squads deployed inside the court premises as authorities acted to evaluate the situation and secure the areas.

Police said an email sent in the name of a terror module claimed that explosives had been planted on court premises early morning, prompting an immediate security alert.

Multiple teams of bomb disposal squad, dog squad, and officers from the local police station were deployed to sweep the district court complexes.

"So far, nothing suspicious was found during the checks," said the police source, adding that the email from which the message was received is under surveillance to determine its origin.

Court proceedings resume

Dhir Singh Kasana, former secretary of the Saket Court Bar Association, said that court proceedings had stopped for about two hours but resumed after lunch.

Navneet Panwar, vice president of the New Delhi Bar Association in Patiala House courts, too, confirmed that following the bomb threat, a sanitisation exercise was conducted, and proceedings were halted for a small period.

Also Read: Red Fort blast probed as terror attack, Kashmir doctors under lens

"The court proceedings are on. There was only a brief halt," Panwar said.

Bomb threat to schools

Around the same time, an unidentified man called the Police Control Room (PCR), claiming that bombs had been placed inside CRPF schools located in Prashant Vihar and Dwarka.

The threat triggered a similar response in this case, too, and teams were dispatched to the locations and schools were evacuated.

"We thoroughly inspected the schools, and nothing suspicious was found. The threat was declared a hoax," a Delhi Fire Services official said.

A police officer said the caller's phone switched off soon after issuing the threat, and efforts are underway to trace him.

Second arrest in Delhi blast case

Meanwhile, Jasir Bilal Wani, NIA's second arrest in the Red Fort bomb blast probe, was produced in Patiala House courts amid tight security.

Also Read: Red Fort blast: Delhi court sends accused Amir Rashid Ali to 10-day NIA custody

These hoax calls come in the wake of the recent Red Fort blast.

A car carrying an improvised explosive device exploded near the historical monument on November 10, killing over a dozen people and injuring several others.

Investigators have found the alleged links of the incident with the terror module security agencies busted in Faridabad, Haryana, before the blast.

(With agency inputs)