Bomb scare at Punjab, Haryana secretariat buildings, ‘Khalistan National Army' sent threat emails: Report

Three buildings, including the Punjab and Haryana secretariat in Sector 1, the UT mini secretariat in Sector 9 and the Punjab Municipal Bhawan in Sector 35, were evacuated after the administration received a bomb threat on Thursday, the Hindustan Times reported.

Earlier, news agency ANI reported that an anonymous email warning of a potential explosive threat was sent to the official email address of the Haryana Secretariat, located in Chandigarh’s high-security government zone.

As a precaution, police, Central Industrial Security Force personnel and bomb disposal squads were immediately deployed, and the building was temporarily evacuated to ensure employee safety.

This came a day after 30 schools received a similar threat from suspected Khalistani entities.

Officials told HT that an email was received at these offices at 9 am in which the sender termed himself as “Khalistan national army” while issuing threats to the Punjab chief minister.

Police were informed, following which anti-sabotage teams, bomb disposal squads, fire brigade, ambulance services and PCR teams were sent.

Nothing incriminating was found in the search operation. Meanwhile, police urged people to ignore rumours and keep calm.

Bomb scare at 30 schools

On Wednesday, 20 private and 10 government schools received bomb threats, following which their premises were evacuated.

The pre-board examination and practical examinations in some schools were affected because of this.

Meanwhile, officials of the cybercrime police station, who are probing Wednesday’s incident, said the emails were sent from somewhere in the United States as suggested by the details of the sender’s IP address.

An official familiar with the matter said the sender could be from someone who is linked to Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a vocal Khalistani activist who is currently based in the US and known for issuing such threats.

While officials are probing Thursday’s episode as well, they said there is a similarity between the two incidents as the emails were sent from Gmail accounts and expressed similar Khalistani sentiments.

Officials said they would pursue the case further under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty

While there have been numerous bomb hoaxes in the city in the past few years, including calls to the Punjab and Haryana high court, the Chandigarh District Courts Complex in Sector 43 and the Nexus Elante Mall, the police haven’t made any arrests in recent years.

Officials said the callers are mostly traced to countries outside India, complicating the investigation.

In such hoax cases, FIRs under Section 113(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) can be registered, punishable with imprisonment for a term not less than five years.

(With inputs from HT)