Bhatkal: Panic gripped the staff of the Bhatkal Tahsildar office in Uttara Kannada district on Tuesday after the office received a bomb threat email. The threatening email was sent at around 7:25 a.m. from an email ID identified as Gaina Ramesh.
The subject line of the email, written in Kannada, warned of an imminent bomb blast at the Tahsildar office and instructed that all occupants be evacuated immediately.
Bhatkal Tahsildar Nagendr Kolashetty said that he noticed the bomb threat email while checking his inbox at around 7:45 a.m. He immediately alerted the Bhatkal Police Inspector, following which the administration sprang into action and a bomb disposal squad from Karwar was rushed to Bhatkal.
As the Tahsildar office is located on the second floor of the Bhatkal Taluka Administration building, popularly known as the Mini Vidhana Soudha, a thorough search was conducted not only in the Tahsildar office but across the entire building. However, no suspicious object was found, and the email was later confirmed to be a hoax.
According to the Tahsildar, the email stated: “Tamils and Pakistanis’ revenge — a massive bomb blast will take place in the Tahsildar office soon. All people must be evacuated immediately.” He added that the email contained not only a bomb threat but also objectionable and inflammatory content targeting the DMK government of Tamil Nadu. It included serious yet baseless allegations, such as attempts to pressure the media in 2001, alleged surveillance of Kannada people through the Galileo app, and claims of sexual abuse of girls in orphanages.
It may be recalled that a few months ago, Bhatkal Town Police Station had also received a similar bomb threat email, following which police arrested two persons from Tamil Nadu.
Bhatkal Police Inspector Divakar said that a case has been registered at the Bhatkal Town Police Station and a detailed investigation is currently underway.
It is also noteworthy that similar fake bomb threat emails were reported on Monday at the Mangaluru RTO Office and the Gadag Deputy Commissioner’s Office. In addition, reports indicate that Bidar and Kolar had received such hoax emails two to three days ago. On Tuesday, similar emails were reportedly received in Hassan and other parts of Karnataka as well.