Bengaluru: Widespread panic hit Bengaluru on Friday morning after forty-eight private schools received a bomb threat via email. As the school authorities alerted the police, parents scrambled to the respective schools of their children. The authorities also reached the schools with bomb disposal squads to rule out the possibilities of bombs inside schools. The security apparatus of the Karnataka city hasn’t found a bomb inside any school as of now but is cautious.

The students and the staff of the schools were evacuated. A senior police official told the news agency PTI that 48 schools had received the bomb threat from an email id. The search operation was nearly over and the police hadn’t found any suspicious objects, he said.

“Prime facie, it appears to be a hoax message. We are also in the process of registering a case in this regard and a thorough investigation is underway,” he said.

The email claimed explosives had been planted on school premises. The police rushed several teams to these schools and the search operation was performed after evacuating students and teachers, another senior officer said.

Police commissioner B Dayananda said it was not the first time such threats were issued.

“Earlier, similar threat letters and emails had come to schools and they were found to be a hoax for mischief and police had identified those behind it. Police are verifying today’s mails too… officials and personnel have gone to all these spots. I appeal to people not to worry, as most likely all these are hoax calls (mails),” he said.

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah has asked the police to seriously investigate the e-mail and its source. He also asked them to provide security to schools and temples as precaution.

Also read: 15 schools in Bengaluru receive bomb threat emails; Students evacuated

Deputy CM DK Shivakumar said the email appeared to be a hoax but “we should be cautious”.

“Parents are a bit worried, no need to worry. Police are looking into it,” he added. He said the senders of the email would be arrested within 24 hours.

Karnataka home minister G Parameshwara said the message had come from email id kharijites@beeble.com, reported PTI. The email said 15 schools had bombs on their premises.

“We will verify as to who is behind it and if there is the involvement of any terrorist organisation, and take measures accordingly. For now, it cannot be said who is behind it. The message in the email asks people to convert and other things, it will be verified,” he told reporters.

With inputs from PTI