Day before CBSE exams, 40 schools in Vadodara,A’bad get bomb threats

Ahmedabad/Vadodara: A day before the CBSE board exams, a fresh wave of hoax bomb threats sent panic waves through schools and homes across Gujarat, with 40 schools -- 21 schools in Ahmedabad and 19 in Vadodara — receiving threat emails on Monday morning. Police later said nothing suspicious was found, but the alerts sparked fear among students and parents and led to security sweeps at schools.
Ahmedabad city district education officer Rohit Chaudhary said 21 Ahmedabad schools received the email, sent from an ID named SarinaLorenzo@gmail.com with the subject line "Gujarat BanayGa KHALISTAN". The mail warned of blasts at 1.11pm and mentioned school buses in Ahmedabad and Vadodara. Bomb squads, dog squads and local police teams sanitized all the campuses. The threats come less than a month after a similar wave of hoax mails last month. The scares prompted the Vadodara Parents Association to seek a high-level probe. In a memorandum to the police commissioner, the group said the repeated threats over two to three years had caused "severe psychological and operational toll", especially during board and competitive exams.The group said frequent evacuations risk stampedes and traffic mishaps and urged a specialized cyber probe, a school security SOP and clear public warnings to deter offenders.