Schools in Mohali receive bomb threat, Fortis Hospital also mentioned

Some private schools in Punjab's Mohali received bomb threat emails which also mentioned Fortis Hospital, following which non-essential services in the hospital were kept on hold, officials said on Tuesday, adding that nothing suspicious was found.

Mohali City SP Dilpreet Singh said there was also a mention of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in the email.

"The bomb threat to schools also mentioned the Fortis Hospital in Mohali, where we conducted anti-sabotage checks. Non-essential services were kept on hold while essential services continued," Dilpreet Singh told reporters in Mohali.

He said the police conducted a thorough check in the hospital and the schools, but nothing suspicious was found at any of the locations.

Security had already been strengthened in and around Fortis Hospital in Mohali after Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was admitted there. Chief Minister Mann was re-admitted in the hospital on Monday evening, hours after he was discharged from the health facility. Mann was admitted again after he experienced exhaustion, said sources.

On Wednesday last week, sixteen private schools in Mohali had received bomb threat emails, triggering evacuation and prompting detailed anti-sabotage checks by police.

However, after detailed inspection, no suspicious or explosive material was found at any of the locations.

Dilpreet Singh said that in Tuesday's emails, the same email address was used.

"In the previous (Wednesday's) threat, during techical investigations, we found the IP address was of USA and the recovery email link was of Bangladesh. The same pattern has been followed today as well with the same IP, same email address being used," he said.

With board and other final exams being held in schools currently, the police said due care was taken so as to not cause any panic.

"We want to assure parents that there is no cause for any panic and normal activities continue," Dilpreet said.

Notably, the latest scare comes close on the heels of similar threats in Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala and Haryana schools. All threats turned out to be hoaxes.