On Monday, a bomb threat email was sent to several key locations associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat. The recipients included the Somnath Temple, the party’s state office Kamalam in Koba, Gandhinagar, and the Khanpur office in Ahmedabad. This prompted a heightened security alert from local authorities, who are currently investigating the threats.
Searches Underway Following Temple Incident
A bomb squad and fire brigade responded to an incident at a temple, where searches were also initiated at additional sites. Officials reported that they are currently tracing the sender of a suspicious message but have not identified anything alarming as of yet.
The emails were sent to Punjab police on Monday who then alerted their counterparts in Gujarat, after which searches were ordered at the sites, according to officers. Ahmedabad mayor Hitesh Barot and city BJP secretary Umangbhai Nayak visited the Khanpur office while the search was under way. They added that investigators were examining alleged financial support and cryptocurrency links involving Bangladesh.
Officers said two accused, Roshan Kumar of Bhagalpur, Bihar, and Gulshan Kumar Singh of Deoghar, Jharkhand, were arrested after a September 10 email threatened the state secretariat, the assembly, the chief minister’s office and other high-profile targets. Officers recovered a list of more than 513,000 email IDs and passwords from the accused.
Police said checks at BJP offices and Somnath Temple found nothing suspicious. Officials said the mail was likely a hoax while cyber teams examined the digital trail. An officer at Shahpur police station said the bomb squad and dog squad searched the Khanpur BJP office and found nothing suspicious. The threatening email comes days after Gujarat police said they broke up an inter-state network behind a wave of similar hoax emails. Officers said Monday’s mail was being checked to see whether it was connected to that syndicate.
