Bomb threat to Vice President C P Radhakrishnan’s Chennai residence, likely a hoax: Police
This email targeting Vice President C P Radhakrishnan is the latest in a series of hoax bomb threats to hit Chennai. Over the past few months, emailed bomb threat hoaxes have not just targeted VIPs, but also other places, including but not limited to schools, hospitals, media houses, and IT offices.
A bomb threat was issued to the Poes Garden residence of Vice President C P Radhakrishnan in Chennai, and it appears to be a hoax, police said on Friday, as reported by PTI.
The threat email was sent to the office of the Assistant Commissioner of Police in Chennai, following which a police team consisting of experts from the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS), along with a sniffer dog, was rushed to the Vice President's residence to root out any potential threats.
After a thorough check of the premises, nothing was found.
"The threat appears to be a hoax," a police was quoted as saying by the news agency.
An alarming rise in hoax bomb threats
This hoax targeting the Vice President is the latest in a series of hoax bomb threats to hit Chennai.
Over the past several months, emailed bomb threat hoaxes have not just targeted VIPs, but also other places, including but not limited to schools, hospitals, media houses, and IT offices.
Consequently, the police have had to carry out multiple evacuations over the past few months, severely disrupting public life in the city.
Just days before Friday's hoax bomb threat against the Vice President, Tamil music composer and Rajya Sabha member Ilaiyaraaja's studio in Chennai was targeted with a similar email.
While no explosives were found in the studio by the BDDS following a thorough search, reports quoting cops said that the threat mail, sent from a Hotmail account, bore similarities to hoax emails sent out earlier to celebrities and politicians in the city.
Prior to that, actors Trisha Krishnan and Shekher also received hoax bomb threat emails.
While the police on 9 October announced the arrest of 37-year-old Shabik for calling the police control room claiming that a bomb had been planted at actor and Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) chief Vijay’s Neelankarai residence, the threats have continued, suggesting that more than one party is involved in the hoaxes.
The Cyber Crime Wing and the Chennai police are actively investigating the hoax mails to try and find the source of what appears to be a deliberate and coordinated scare campaign.