After schools, 4 Delhi hospitals get bomb threat emails; police say probe on

Four Delhi hospitals, including Deepchand Bandhu Hospital, Dada Dev Hospital, Hedgewar Hospital and Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital, received bomb threat emails on Tuesday, two days after similar messages were sent to 20 hospitals, the airport and the office of the Northern Railways' CPRO in the capital, officials said. Nothing suspicious has been found so far.

Delhi Fire Service officials said they had received calls of bomb threat emails from these four hospitals. The bomb disposal squad, bomb detection team, fire department and local police rushed to the spot to conduct searches, the officials said. According to a DFS official, the spate of calls began at 10.45am.

Back-to-back calls from Delhi hospitals

The first hospital to call was Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital in north Delhi's Ashok Vihar at 9.45am. The second call came at 10.55am from Dada Dev Hospital in Dabri in southwest Delhi, the third at 11.01am from Hedgewar Hospital in east Delhi's Farsh Bazar and the fourth at 11.12am from GTB Hospital in Shahdara, also in east Delhi.

"Police and the bomb disposal squad are conducting the checks. We have also conducted checks twice. Nothing suspicious has been found so far," said VK Sharma, security officer at Hedgewar Hospital.

The mail about an explosive in the hospital was received by a doctor at the hospital, he said.

This is the fourth time in the last one month that various places, including schools, have received such threats.

The development comes two days after Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport and over half a dozen government hospitals in Delhi received bomb threats through email.

According to Delhi Police, the IGI Airport received a bomb threat through email from an unidentified account on May 12. The sender threatened the presence of an explosive device inside the premises.

Similar emails were received at two government hospitals, including Burari Government Hospital, and Mangolpuri's Sanjay Gandhi Hospital. The Delhi Police has launched a probe into the matter.

The list of these hospitals includes – Dada Dev Hospital in Dabri, Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Hospital in Hari Nagar, Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital in Dilshad Garden, Hindu Rao Hospital of Malka Ganj, and Aruna Asaf Ali Govt Hospital of Rajpur Road.

These bomb threat emails come nearly two weeks after over 150 schools in Delhi-NCR received bomb threats that sparked panic among parents.

However, the ministry of home affairs (MHA) issued an official statement calling the email a "hoax".

Bomb threats to Delhi hospitals

Police received information regarding the threat from Brurari Hospital at 3pm on May 12 after which complaints came in from several other hospitals across the city and police teams were dispatched but "nothing suspicious" has been found yet, officials said.

The bomb threats were reported from Indira Gandhi International Airport Terminal-3, Burari Hospital, Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Bara Hindu Rao Hospital, Janakpuri Super Speciality Hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyay, Dabri's Dada Dev Hospital and Aruna Asaf Ali Government Hospital in Civil Lines, a senior Delhi Fire Services official said.

The Guru Nanak Dev Eye Hospital, Gramin Swastha Prashikshan Sansthan in Najafgarh, ILBS in Vasant Kunj are among the hospitals which were also checked by the local police as the emails were sent to them too, a police officer said.

The CPRO building located at State Entry Road in Connaught Place was also checked but nothing suspicious was found, the officer said. At some of the hospitals, the checks were underway till late night, he said.

"The Security Operations Control Centre at IGI Airport has received a threat email concerning an explosive device within the premises. Enhanced security protocols are now in effect, and safety measures have been intensified. Legal action has been initiated. No suspicious items have been found as of now," Deputy Commission of Police (IGI) Usha Rangnani said.

The officer said that the airport authorities received a threat email at 6pm.

(With inputs from PTI)