Thane/Hingoli/Pune, Nov 2 (PTI) The district and sessions courts in Maharashtra's Pune, Thane, Hingoli, Beed, and Nanded received emails threatening bomb blasts on the premises on Monday, triggering a security scare and a police search.
Police said nothing suspicious was found during searches.
According to police, the court building in Thane city was evacuated in the afternoon as the office received a message that a bomb would explode at 3.30 pm.
"Personnel from Thane Nagar police station evacuated the entire court complex. Judges, advocates and other staffers were safely led out of the premises. A dog squad and BDDS personnel then carried out a thorough search," an official informed.
In Pune, the Shivajinagar court premises were evacuated after the court administration received a bomb threat, a Pune Police officer said.
"The court administration received a bomb threat through an email stating that a bomb has been placed in the court building.
"After receiving the mail, the court premises were evacuated, the Bomb Detection & Disposal Squad (BDDS) was summoned, and the search for any suspected object was launched," he said.
In Hingoli in the Marathwada region, an email threatening to blow up the court building came to light after the court opened in the morning.
The court authorities immediately informed the police, following which a police team, accompanied by the BDDS, rushed to the spot and launched a thorough search.
A police official said the email might have been a hoax, adding that the Hingoli cybercrime unit has launched a probe to trace the email's source.
A similar email was received in Beed, also in Marathwada, at 11:52 am, warning of a bomb blast at 3:11 pm, following which the court complex was evacuated, local officials said.
"A contingent of police, BDDS and LCB personnel, along with a dog squad, reached the court complex. Teams carried out a sanitisation and search operation," Additional Superintendent of Police Shaikh Sameer said.
Cyber teams are verifying the origin of the IP address to determine if it is a hoax or part of an unannounced drill, he added.
The Nanded district and sessions court also received a bomb threat via email. Police declared it a hoax after an extensive two-hour search operation yielded no explosive materials, a police official said.
According to police, an anonymous threat email warning of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast was received on the district court's official email ID around noon on Monday. The court administration immediately forwarded the email to the police for urgent action.
As a precautionary measure, all litigants, advocates, court officers, and staff members were safely evacuated from the premises.
Police have launched a technical investigation to track down the source and sender of the threat email.
(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)