Bomb hoax to Delhi's school in April might be linked to foreign servers

Investigators probing a bomb hoax to the Indian School here last month have traced the source of the threat e-mail to an IP address that might be linked to a server in Germany or Russia, police said on Tuesday.

The Indian School in Delhi's Sadiq Nagar received two bomb threats and the latest was on April 12 via an email. The first one was over phone in November 2022. Both turned out to be hoax threats.

Following the e-mail threat, the school was evacuated and bomb disposal squads swung into action. However, nothing suspicious was found after a five-hour search operation.

"During our probe, technical investigation revealed that the alleged threat via email was sent through the IP address linked to a server in Germany or Russia. However, investigation in such cases are tricky since various protocols need to be followed to carry the probe on International ground," a senior police officer said.

A police officer, who has been analysing such cases, said, "In case of Indian School, during our investigation, the IP address through which the email was sent was traced to a server in Germany as well as in Russia. So, what happens is if one student does such an act, it is possible that other students could also get influenced and try to commit the same act may be for fun.

"But whenever a student is caught in such an act, he or she is counselled. But now with spurt in such bomb threats over emails, it is important that students are counselled and told about the serious consequences of such an act," he added.

The case is being investigated by the Delhi Police's Special Cell.

Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, also received a threat e-mail on May 11.

A senior police officer pointed out that the technical investigations into this bomb e-mail threat pointed to the involvement of a student as the alleged threat was sent from his email address.

The student, however, has denied his involvement.