Several schools and Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru recently received emails with bomb threats that were found to be hoaxes upon investigation.
On June 13, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which oversees security at airport, received a threat email from chitrakalas_gopalan@outlook.com. The message, claiming to be from “Madras Tigers,” warned of “Human IEDs to detonate near Fuselage/Airport Prayer Rooms” and demanded immediate evacuation.
The email also claimed that explosive projectiles and pipe bombs had been planted on the airport’s premises. As extensive searches yielded nothing, authorities declared the threat a hoax and registered an FIR through the BIAL police station.
Similarly, on Monday, multiple Bengaluru schools received bomb threat emails. Commissioner of Police Seemant Kumar Singh confirmed the threats were hoaxes after comprehensive searches. The targeted schools were located within the Kumbalgod, Nagar, and Kalasipalya police station limits.
According to police sources, these emails appear connected to similar threats sent to schools in Hassan, Udupi, and other states across the country in the past. FIRs will be registered and investigations launched to trace the emails’ origins and identify those responsible for the coordinated hoax campaign, the sources said.
It can be recalled that a postgraduate medical student in Mangaluru was recently arrested for orchestrating a fake bomb threat to avoid giving a scheduled seminar presentation.
Between 2022 and 2024, Karnataka reported 169 fake bomb threat calls or emails, most of them (133) in Bengaluru city. The police arrested 10 people and chargesheeted them in three such cases.
