Multiple courts, including the City Sessions and CJM (Bankshall) courts, received bomb threats via email, leading to evacuations and searches.
Police and bomb squads conducted operations across premises; no explosive material was found and the threats were declared a hoax.
Chief Secretary Nandini Chakravorty said a probe is underway to trace the source, while security has been stepped up for judicial officers.
Bomb Threat Emails Disrupt Courts Across West Bengal
City Sessions, Bankshall among courts evacuated; no explosives found
Summary
Judicial work was disrupted on Tuesday, as several courts in West Bengal received bomb threats, throwing security personnel into a tizzy and prompting search operations and evacuation in court premises, officials said.
According to a senior police officer, bomb threats were sent by email in the morning to the city sessions court, CJM (Bankshall) court, and sub-divisional courts in Asansol and Durgapur in the Paschim Bardhaman district.
However, no explosive material was found during the search operations in the courts, he said.
According to the officer, the CJM (Bankshall) court and the city sessions court were evacuated, and the entire area was inspected by Kolkata Police bomb squad members with sniffer dogs.
Similar operations were carried out at other courts in the state.
CEO Manoj Agarwal responded that it was the responsibility of the state police to investigate and identify the perpetrators when asked if the simultaneous bomb threats in courts were connected to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral records being carried out by judicial officers.
"I think the police are already probing the bomb threats, and whether it is linked to any ongoing election-related exercise in the courts," Agarwal said.
According to Chief Secretary Nandini Chakravorty, an investigation has been launched to determine who sent the threat emails and whether a single person or a group is responsible.
Chakravorty told reporters in the state secretariat that the West Bengal administration is dedicated to providing protection to court officers and other participants in the SIR process. He was joined by DGP Piyush Pandey and Kolkata Commissioner of Police Supratim Sarkar.
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