Two Bihar courts receive bomb threat, MP Pappu Yadav's bail plea remains unheard

Patna (PTI): Two courts in Bihar on Monday received bomb threats by email, prompting the authorities to conduct searches on their premises, in the second such instance of its kind in a month, officials said.

A mail threatening to blow up the Patna Civil Court premises sent the administration into a tizzy. Police personnel, who rushed to the spot to carry out searches, were so far tight-lipped, even as judicial work was suspended for the day, putting on hold, among other things, the bail plea of Independent MP Pappu Yadav.

Security was beefed up at the Bhagalpur Civil court too, following a bomb threat email received by the authorities. The entire court premises was searched thoroughly, but no suspicious object was found, officials said.

The mail, which claimed that explosives were planted in the civil court, appeared hoax, said a senior district police official on the condition of anonymity.

Yadav's lawyer Shivnandan Bharti told reporters, "We have been told that a bomb threat has been received on the email address of the District Judge. As a result, the bail application of the MP can now be taken up not before tomorrow. My client shall have to spend another day in jail." Yadav, who represents Purnea Lok Sabha seat, was arrested on Friday night in connection with a three-decade-old forgery case lodged at the MP/MLA court.

The Congress has come out in his support, with leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra alleging that the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar was targeting Yadav because he had been criticising the investigation into the death of a NEET aspirant.

Notably, similar bomb threats were received by several courts in Bihar, including the one here, on January 8. The emails had turned out to be a hoax.