Panic gripped students and parents of a private school in Delhi’s Rohini, a day after a low intensity blast occurred in an area located within one kilometre of the school, as it received a bomb threat via email on Friday morning. While the threat later turned out to be a hoax after a search was initiated on the school campus, the psychological impact on the public was visible as the area has been gripped in bomb blasts for over a month.

Following the threat in Venkateshwar Global School in Rohini, school authorities sprung into action while informing the parents for early dispersal of the students and requested them to pick up their wards by 11 am. While some were sent in school buses, parents of the others rushed to pick their children, who waited anxiously in a designated area. 

A mother, Rati Awasthi, whose 12-year-old daughter studies in class VII, expressed her concerns regarding the safety of her children in light of the recent blasts in the city. “We are deeply concerned about the current situation in the city. How can we feel confident about our children’s safety?” she questioned, adding that just a day before, a bomb blast occurred in Prashant Vihar, barely 1 kilometers away from the school, and today, the school itself has received a bomb threat.

“As soon as I received the message from the school regarding the bomb threat, I went blank and immediately reached there,” she said. She further said that she will be in constant fear even after sending her child to the school. “I cannot put his studies on hold but then such news scares me,” Awasthi said. Police have launched an investigation into the matter, the officer said.

According to Delhi Fire Service (DFS), a bomb related call was received at around 11 am about an email threat from Venkateshwar Global School in Rohini, upon which a team of the DFS immediately reached the spot. “A fire brigade was dispatched to the spot along with a rescue team. The school administration evacuated the school premises as a precautionary measure and nothing suspicious was found,” an official of DFS added.

Police, bomb disposal squad, dog squad, along with DFS personnel checked and searched the entire premises of the school. “It was a hoax. The source of the bomb threat is still being verified,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rohini) Amit Goel. No suspicious object was found and the threat was declared a hoax, the officer added.

School authorities “Dear parents, because of an emergency (a threat email received by the school) there is an early dispersal of students being done. The buses and self-dispersal students will be allowed to leave the school at 11. The situation is well under control. There’s no need to panic,” the statement read.

Principal of VGS, Dr Namita Singhal said that the school received a bomb threat in its official email. “After we received the email, we dispersed all the students and staff,” she said.

The threat came a day after a low-intensity explosion took place on Thursday morning in Rohini’s Prashanth Vihar area, leaving one person injured and triggering panic among residents.

The blast took place in front of a sweet shop near a park, just around 500 metres away from a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) school where another high-intensity explosion, which remains unsolved, took place nearly 40 days ago.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has registered an FIR regarding the explosion that took place on Thursday near a cinema hall in Rohini, officials said. The low-intensity blast that occurred nearly 40 days after an explosion that took place at a CRPF school in the same area left one person injured and triggered panic among residents.

A case under section 326(g) (mischief with severe consequences to public safety) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, section 4 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and section 3 of the Explosive Substance Act has been registered at the Prashant Vihar police station, police said. The case has been registered against unidentified people and efforts are underway to arrest the accused who dumped or planted the explosive material at the site, they said.