As many as nine district courts and the Dharwad Bench of the Karnataka High Court received bomb threats, primarily over email, on Monday, triggering a large-scale panic and mobilisation of anti-sabotage units.
They were later declared a hoax.
Threats were received by district courts in Mandya, Bengaluru South District (Ramanagara), Kodagu, Mangaluru, Uttara Kannada (Karwar), Dharwad, Hassan, Haveri and Davanagere, apart from the High Court bench.
No courts in Bengaluru have received any threats so far, Bengaluru police commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh told DH.
Sources in the state police told DH that the threat claimed that RDX or similar explosives were planted on the premises of the courts. Respective police stations and senior officers were immediately alerted.
Bomb detection and disposal squads (BDDS), canine squads and anti-sabotage teams were deployed. Court proceedings were halted, advocates, lawyers and the public were escorted off the premises.
"A full sweep was done and the threats were declared a hoax. The threats are aimed at creating mischief and panic," a highly-placed police source told DH.
Similar to the email received on January 6, the latest message claimed that an RDX bomb in the High Court would be detonated at 1.15 pm on February 16 (Monday). The email also carried a message demanding the withdrawal of the EWS reservation implementation in Tamil Nadu.
High Court Additional Registrar Shantaveer Shivappa examined the email and immediately informed SP Gunjan Arya. The SP rushed to the High Court along with a police team. Judges, advocates, and members of the public were evacuated from the court premises along with their vehicles as a precautionary measure.
Mangaluru City Police Commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy CH said that immediately after receiving the email, the Anti-Sabotage Check (ASC) team was deployed to inspect the court premises and nothing suspicious was found.