Bomb hoax hits 11 schools in Jalandhar

Jalandhar, Dec 15 (PTI) A bomb threat sent into panic several schools here on Monday, with authorities evacuating the students and launching anti-sabotage actions.

It turned out to be a hoax, an officer said.

Police teams were sent scurrying across the city after 11 schools received a bomb threat via email.

"We were told that there had been some fault in the electricity and we were asked to pick up our children from the school," a parent told reporters.

ACP (North) Sanjay Kumar, who was at KMV School, said, "A threat was received on the school principal's email that the building would be blown up." He said the police searched the school premises immediately after the information was received.

"Anti-sabotage team also carried out a check in the premises, but nothing suspicious was found," Kumar said.

A student said that he was giving an exam when a teacher said there was a power cut and ordered all students to assemble in the ground.

Another parent, who came to pick up his child, said the school did not reveal the real reason behind the evacuation and just asked them to take their wards from the school.

On December 12, several schools in Amritsar were hit by a bomb threat, which later turned out to be a hoax.

Meanwhile, Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Aggarwal said, "No suspicious object or activity was detected during the comprehensive search operations." He said school managements were already informed about the safety drill and extended full cooperation to the administration.

Police Commissioner Dhanpreet Kaur said, "So far, nothing suspicious has been found, and the threats appear to be aimed at creating unnecessary panic among the public." She said an FIR had been registered to investigate the origin of the threatening emails.

Both officers appealed to the public not to panic, assuring that the safety and security of students and the public remain the administration's top priority. PTI SUN VSD VN VN