A fresh wave of terror swept through Chandigarh on Thursday when four major private schools and the Punjab Secretariat received chilling bomb threat emails. The messages specified detonation times—1 PM for the schools and 3:11 PM for the secretariat—sparking a citywide security operation.
Echoing a prior alert on February 19 targeting the Sector-9 secretariat, this incident saw rapid mobilization. Emergency services, including fire tenders, bomb squads, and dog units, converged on the sites. Police cordoned off areas, deploying large contingents to maintain order during searches that yielded no threats.
The secretariat’s premises were scoured meticulously, with no explosives or suspicious packages uncovered. Schools followed suit, ensuring students’ safety amid the uproar.
India’s battle with bomb hoaxes intensifies daily. Noida’s schools were hit with over 12 threats last week, mirroring the chaos in Bhopal where a university was evacuated post-email warning. Jaunpur courts, Jodhpur High Court, and Uttarakhand judicial buildings have all been targeted recently, with fabricated claims of RDX and IEDs in judges’ rooms.
These emails, frequently pseudonymous and routed internationally, expose vulnerabilities in digital communication. While no blasts have materialized, the disruptions—evacuations, traffic snarls, and heightened anxiety—erode public confidence. Security agencies are enhancing protocols, including AI-driven threat detection, to counter this menace. Chandigarh’s resolve stands firm as probes deepen into these shadowy threats.