Police detain Class 12 boy for serial school bomb hoaxes

The boy was doing it to delay exams or other events in schools. He also admitted that at times, he would boast about the emails to his friends.

A Class 12 student from a prominent south Delhi school was apprehended for allegedly sending multiple bomb threats via email to several schools across Delhi over the past few months, police said on Friday. The 17-year-old boy was caught on Thursday from outside Delhi, questioned, and released after counselling.

Representative photo: A Class 12 student from a prominent south Delhi school was apprehended for allegedly sending multiple bomb threats(Vipin Kumar/Hindustan Times)

The detention came after more than 16 schools received bomb threats on Wednesday, marking the seventh such incident in two months. Last year, at least 14 similar threats created chaos and panic among students, teachers and parents, prompting deployment of bomb squads, dog squads, firefighters and paramilitary forces.

Police traced Wednesday’s email, sent from a Gmail account at 10.45am, which warned of a “powerful bomb” planted in schools that would detonate during student examinations. The sender demanded ransom and asked schools to reply “yes” or “no” to “know more about ransom”.

The affected institutions included Air Force Bal Bharti School, Frank Anthony Public School, DPS RK Puram, Bluebells School International, Amity International School in Saket, Tagore International School, Laxman Public School, Father Agnel School and Modern School Vasant Vihar, most of which are located in south Delhi.

The police did not disclose the name of the school where the suspect studied.

“We started looking for the sender on Wednesday and found the location of the device which was used to send the mail. The boy was identified and held on Thursday. During questioning, he revealed that he has been doing this since last year,” a senior police officer said.

Investigation revealed the boy’s alleged involvement in at least three to four previous incidents of bomb threats, but did not provide any details about those cases. “We found that the boy had told a few of his friends about the emails. He was doing it to delay exams or other events in schools. He also admitted that at times, he would boast about the emails and his friends would request him to send another email to delay exams or parent-teacher meetings,” another officer said.

Both officers asked not to be named.

The teenager, described as tech-savvy by investigators, regularly used VPN tools that mask a person’s network information to hide his digital footprint while sending the threats. “Sadly, he was caught because on Wednesday, he forgot to use VPN and his location was traced,” the officer added.

An investigator in the south district said: “We believe that he also sent mail to 23 schools including his own last month. Before this, he mostly sent mails to other schools to not get caught as he believed that the police would look only for students from those schools.”

This case follows an unresolved incident from May last year when 250 schools across Delhi-NCR received bomb threats, leading to the formation of 18 specialised teams equipped with detectors, X-ray machines, electric equipment, containment chambers and sensors for bomb detection and disposal.

In December, another minor was detained for sending a bomb threat to his school in Paschim Vihar but was later released after questioning.

Typically, such hoaxes are prosecuted under BNS section 351 (4) that deals with criminal intimation by concealing identity. In Wednesday’s case, an FIR was lodged under various sections but police did not divulge the details. An officer said that since it was a non cognisable and non heinous crime, the boy was counselled and allowed to go home. Further legal action will be taken based on evidence. The boy’s phone has been submitted to the forensic science laboratory for analysis, the officer added.