23 hotels in 3 states receive hoax bomb threat via email
by Sunita · KalingaTVKolkata: Around 23 hotels in Kolkata, Tirupati and Rajkot received bomb threat via emails on Saturday. However, they turned out to be fake after extensive investigation.
On Saturday, the hotels received the bomb threats via emails that eventually turned out to be a hoax. This incident followed the threats sent to airports and flights over the past week, have deepened the fears of people during this festival season.
At least 10 hotels in Kolkata received the threats. Meanwhile, the bomb threat was sent to three hotels in Tirupati and 10 hotels in Rajkot.
The Kolkata hotels received the threat while home minister Amit Shah was visiting Bengal. So, the police took the matter seriously and performed the usual anti-bomb drills, but nothing was found. “The emails followed the same pattern as hoax threats to schools earlier this year,” said a Kolkata cop.
The Kolkata police alerted central agencies. According to the officials, the emails were send under a pseudonym — Reality Is Fake. One email stated, ” I have planted bombs on the grounds of your hotel. The bombs are hidden in black bags. They will detonate soon. You have little time to live. Evacuate.”
In Tirupati, the threat was sent to three hotels Saturday, deepening a pattern as four properties in the Andhra city had been targeted in the past two days. All turned out to be hoaxes.
The threat emails referred to Jaffer Sadiq, alleged kingpin of a major drug racket nabbed by central agencies in July. Saturday’s threats mentioned two other names — TN deputy CM Udayanidhi Stalin’s wife Kiruthiga and TN DGP Shankar Jiwal.
The email mentioned “Afzal Guru will be re-born! Al-Badr!” — referring to the 2001 Parliament attack convict executed in 2013. The email also claimed Andhra CM N Chandrababu Naidu’s car was twinned with hotel “IEDs”.
In Gujarat’s Rajkot, 10 hotels simultaneously received emails around 12.45pm Saturday from the same ID, “Kan Din”, threatening explosions. Rajkot DCP Parthrajsinh Gohil said the hotels were searched but nothing suspicious was found.