Around a dozen schools in Indian city of Noida received bomb threat emails on Thursday, triggering panic among students, parents and staff, reported Indian media.
Soon after the information was received, Noida Police teams rushed to the affected schools. Bomb disposal squad and dog squad units were deployed and detailed checking operations were started on the premises.
Students were moved to safe areas as a precaution. The incident happened while CBSE board examinations were underway, increasing concern among parents.
Police said searches were ongoing and so far nothing suspicious has been found. Investigation into the source of the emails has begun.
Last week, on Friday, February 15, police arrested six people for allegedly sending bomb threat emails to around 20 schools in Noida last month. Investigators said the emails first appeared to come from servers in the United States, but were later traced to a house in Bisrakh, Greater Noida.
According to police, the accused were running an illegal online betting racket and used fake email IDs and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) numbers.
On January 23, nearly 20 schools in Noida had received similar bomb threat emails. As Republic Day was near, senior officers carried out extensive searches in school campuses with bomb disposal squads, dog squads and fire teams. The alerts were later declared hoaxes.
To identify the culprits, a case was registered at Surajpur police station under criminal intimidation and public mischief sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with Section 66 of the IT Act.