The Bombay High Court was placed on high alert on Friday following the receipt of a bomb threat via email. As a precautionary measure, authorities instructed all judges, lawyers, staff, and visitors to immediately evacuate the court premises.
The Bombay Bar Association issued a notice to its members, emphasising the need for prompt evacuation due to security concerns. In the communication, Naushad Engineer, the Honorary Secretary of the Bombay Bar Association, urged all members and their staff to vacate the High Court building without delay.
This comes just hours after a bomb threat spread panic in the Delhi High Court for litigants and judges alike, prompting the latter to rise abruptly.
The pandemonium followed an e-mail through which the court administration received the threat of the attack in the high court.
This prompted the police and other agencies to launch a search operation.
According to sources, the e-mail was received by the registrar general at around 8.39 am and some of the judges were informed about it.
When the judges were conducting proceedings, their court staff came and informed them about the bomb threat e-mail after which they rushed out of the courtrooms.
While some of the judges started rising at around 11.35 am, others kept holding their respective courts till 12 noon. A bomb disposal squad also reached the high court premises.
Security was beefed up and everyone present in the court premises was asked to vacate.
Police said a PCR call was received in the morning regarding an e-mail claiming the presence of a bomb in the court premises.
Earlier, panic gripped two key locations in the city after Mumbai Airport and Nair Hospital reportedly received bomb threats via e-mail on the night of September 6. According to reports, the email addressed to Nair Hospital was received on the dean’s official ID around 11 pm, sparking fear among hospital staff and patients.
Police teams were immediately deployed to both sites. However, no suspicious objects were found during the search operations.
This incident comes close on the heels of a similar case, where Ashwini Kumar, an astrologer, was arrested for threatening to blow up Mumbai. Kumar claimed to be a member of a Pakistan-based jihadi group and alleged that 14 terrorists had entered the city. During the probe, police recovered seven mobile phones, three SIM cards, six memory card holders, an external SIM slot, two digital cards, and other electronic items from him.
(With inputs from Agencies)
