As many as 15 schools in Karnataka capital Bengaluru have received bomb threat emails on Friday morning, leading to a panic situation amongst authorities, students, parents and staff. The city police suspect that the emails are a hoax, however they are conducting a probe to rule out all possibilities, news agency PTI reported.

Authorities including the bomb squad department are combing through the premises of these schools to spot and retrieve any suspicious items. Cops have also evacuated students and staff from the schools as a precautionary measure and school authorities have instructed parents to come and pick up their children early.

A senior police official spoke to media and said, “The email claimed that explosives had been planted on school premises. We received a call from the command centre and immediately rushed our teams to schools which are located in different parts of the city. All students and staff have been safely evacuated from the school premises and a thorough search operation is being carried out. So far, nothing suspicious has been found yet and prima facie looks like it's a hoax message. Parents need not panic, our teams are on the ground.”

Karnataka Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara also spoke on the situation, saying, “At present, we have received information about 15 schools where threatening e-mails have been received, last year also such threats were received. We cannot take any risk, we are inspecting the schools and are taking all precautionary measures in schools. We will take strict action against those who are making threatening calls. We are looking into all aspects.”

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar even visited a school in Bengaluru after it received a threatening e-mail. "I was watching TV, the school opposite to my house also got a threat mail. I came here to check. Till now it seems like a threat call. But we have to be very cautious about it," he said.

Several schools in the tech hub have received similar hoax calls and messages last year as well, with the city's National Public School receiving a bomb threat in January this year. Further probe is underway and more details are awaited.

Source: ANI