Just a day after almost 40 schools in Gujarat were sent emails warning of coordinated bomb explosions on buses, at least four district courts in the state were cleared on Tuesday following the receipt of similar threatening emails by their registries.
Units from the local Crime Branch, Special Operations Group, and the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) hurried to the district courts in Vadodara, Valsad, Rajkot, Ahmedabad, and Gandhinagar to facilitate a safe evacuation and perform inspections.
The threat emails were reported just as the court proceedings for Tuesday commenced.
Senior police officials, such as Joint Commissioner of Police Leena Patil, arrived at the District Court complex in Vadodara's Diwalipura area. The BDDS team evacuated lawyers, litigants, and court staff to perform inspections on the premises after a threat email was sent to the court's official email address.
Comparable activities were carried out in the court complexes of Valsad, Gandhinagar, and Rajkot, along with the former high court building in Ahmedabad.
Deputy Superintendent of Police A K Verma from Valsad stated that all 19 courtrooms in the district court were cleared, and those involved in legal cases were promised a rescheduled date for their hearings.
Verma stated that the police control room got a call regarding the email thread. The district police's local Crime Branch and Special Operations Group units, along with BDDS staff, were promptly sent out. The court was evacuated in an orderly fashion, and an inspection was conducted. The cyber crime police will start an investigation to determine where the email came from.
The danger to the courts follows a day after 40 schools in Vadodara and Ahmedabad were threatened with simultaneous explosions, causing evacuations and class disruptions on Monday, which were eventually determined to be false alarms.
On Tuesday, the CBSE board exams for classes 10 and 12 commenced in schools throughout the state following assurances from the police that steps would be implemented to prevent any disruptions.