Over 20 schools in Delhi were targeted with bomb threat emails today, Friday morning, July 18, according to officials. Bomb disposal teams and police squads are conducting thorough searches at the affected schools to ensure safety, according to a report by The Hindustan Times.

The schools that received the threatening emails include St Xavier’s in Civil Lines, Richmond Global School in Paschim Vihar, Abhinav Public School in Rohini, and The Sovereign School in Rohini. Authorities are still identifying other affected institutions.

What was written in the emails?
The emails, sent to 23 schools, claimed that explosives, specifically trinitrotoluene, were hidden in classrooms. One email stated, “Hello. I am writing to let you know that I have placed several explosive devices (trinitrotoluene) within school classrooms.” It further added, “The explosives are skillfully hidden, in black plastic bags. I will erase every last one of you from this world. Not a single soul will survive. I will gladly laugh when I will watch the news, only to see the parents show up at the school and to be greeted by the cold, dismembered bodies of their children.”

The sender expressed his personal distress, saying, “You all deserve to suffer. I truly hate my life, I will commit suicide after the news, will slit my throat and slit my wrists. I was never truly helped, psychiatrists, psychologists, no one has ever cared and no one will ever care. You only care about medicating the helpless and clueless humans... You brainwash people into thinking psychiatric meds can help them. But they don’t. I [am] living proof that they do not. You all deserve this. You deserve to suffer just like me.”

Ongoing investigations
This is the fourth consecutive day of bomb threat hoaxes in Delhi. On Wednesday, July 16, at least seven schools received similar emails, while on Tuesday, July 15, St Stephen’s College in North Campus and St Thomas School in Dwarka were targeted. The day before, three other schools received hoax threats. A 12-year-old, Class 8 boy from south Delhi was traced in connection with one of the Tuesday threats, and investigations continue to identify the perpetrators.

Swift measure
Delhi Police and bomb disposal teams are actively searching the premises, with no explosives found so far. Schools have heightened security measures, and authorities are working to trace the origins of the emails, suspecting the use of anonymising tools. The repeated hoaxes have raised concerns about student safety and the need for stronger cybersecurity measures.