Three buildings, including the Punjab and Haryana Secretariat in Sector 1, the UT Mini Secretariat in Sector 9 and the Punjab Municipal Bhawan in Sector 35, were evacuated after the administration received a bomb threat on Thursday, Hindustan Times reported.
Earlier, news agency ANI reported that an anonymous email warning of a potential explosive threat was sent to the official email address of the Haryana Secretariat, which is located in a high-security government zone in Chandigarh.
Police, Central Industrial Security Corps personnel and bomb disposal units were immediately deployed as a precaution and the building was temporarily evacuated to ensure the safety of employees.
This comes a day after 30 schools received a similar threat from suspected Khalistani entities.
Officials told HT that an email was received at these offices at 9 am in which the sender identified himself as “Khalistan National Army” while threatening the Punjab Chief Minister.
The police were informed, then anti-sabotage teams, bomb disposal squads, firefighters, rescue services and teams of the Czech Police were dispatched.
Nothing incriminating was found during the search operation. Meanwhile, police urged people to ignore the rumors and remain calm.
Bomb in 30 schools
On Wednesday, 20 private and 10 government schools received bomb threats, after which their premises were evacuated.
Pre-school exams and practical exams at some schools were affected by this.
Meanwhile, officials of the Cyber Crime Police Station, who are investigating Wednesday’s incident, said the emails were sent from somewhere in the United States, as indicated by the sender’s IP address details.
An official familiar with the matter said the sender could be from someone connected to Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a vocal Khalistani activist currently based in the US who is known for issuing similar threats.
While officials are also investigating Thursday’s episode, they said there is a similarity between the two incidents as the emails were sent from Gmail accounts and expressed similar Khalistani sentiments.
Officials said they would pursue the case further under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty
While there have been numerous bomb hoaxes in the city in the past few years, including calls to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh’s District Court Complex in Sector 43 and the Nexus Elante mall, the police have not made any arrests in recent years.
Officials said the callers are mostly traced to countries outside India, complicating investigations.
In such fraudulent cases, FIRs may be registered under Section 113(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), punishable with imprisonment for a term of not less than five years.
