Tension gripped the judiciary across West Bengal on Tuesday as at least six district courts, including two in the heart of Kolkata, were temporarily evacuated and thoroughly searched following a series of bomb threat emails. While the searches ultimately revealed no explosive devices, the coordinated nature of the scare has raised serious security concerns, particularly given its timing just hours after a major announcement by the Supreme Court regarding the state’s electoral roll revision.
The incident began around midday when a court office at the City Civil and Sessions Court in central Kolkata received an email claiming that explosives had been planted inside the premises. Authorities immediately alerted the police, leading to the swift evacuation of both the City Civil Court and the nearby Bankshall Court. Sniffer dogs and personnel from the bomb disposal squad were rushed to the scene to conduct a comprehensive sweep of the buildings.
Simultaneously, similar threats were received at four other district courts across the state: the Chinsurah court in Hooghly district, the Asansol and Durgapur courts in West Burdwan district, and the Berhampore court in Murshidabad district. All were vacated as a precautionary measure to facilitate search operations.
Confirming the development, a senior police officer stated, "At least six district courts, including two in Kolkata, had to be vacated and searched on Tuesday afternoon following a bomb scare triggered by e-mails. We are investigating the matter."
By 2 pm, law enforcement agencies had cleared all the affected court premises, confirming that the threats were a hoax. Debaprasad Nath, the West Burdwan district judge, speaking from the Durgapur court, told the media, "It is most likely a hoax mail. I gave orders to vacate the court as a safety measure so that the search operation could be conducted quickly."
A Suspiciously Timed Threat
The bomb scares have taken on a deeply political hue, as they occurred just hours after a directive from the Supreme Court concerning West Bengal's electoral process. On Tuesday morning, the apex court announced that judicial officers from Odisha and Jharkhand could be deployed to the state. They will assist 250 acting and retired judicial officers from Bengal's district courts in the monumental task of disposing of around six million disputed claims filed by voters during the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll.
Manoj Agarwal, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal, underscored the critical nature of the SIR exercise, stating emphatically that the state must provide safety and security for the judicial officers deployed for the task.
As the search operations were underway, the state's top administrative and police officials held an emergency press conference at Nabanna, the state secretariat. Chief Secretary Nandini Chakraborty sought to downplay the threat while assuring a thorough investigation. "We are investigating the source of the mails. The pattern is the same. All the district judges are working in their respective areas. The state government is working actively to ensure their safety and security so that the SIR exercise is not affected," she told reporters.
Kolkata Police Commissioner Supratim Sarkar confirmed that a cyber crime investigation had been launched. "Our cyber crime wing is trying to trace the source of the e-mail. We will take strong action once the sender is identified," he said.
While no explosives were found, the coordinated incident prompted authorities to beef up security at several other courts across the state as a precautionary measure. The investigation is now focused on identifying the origin of the emails and whether they were an elaborate attempt to disrupt the electoral revision process.
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