NOIDA: A Class 9 student, who was detained for allegedly sending hoax bomb threats that led to evacuation of four schools in the city on Wednesday, told police that he did so to get a day off from attending classes.
DCP (Noida) Rambadan Singh said at a press conference on Thursday that the 14-year-old was a Delhi resident and was studying at one of the four schools that got the threats.
“The student wanted day off from school and had read online about recent news of bomb threats spreading panic and fear among school authorities. He also watched YouTube videos for three hours and got online tips about accessing VPN to hide his IP address,” the DCP said. Virtual private network, or VPN, encrypts a user’s data and masks IP addresses.
Police sources told TOI that the e-mails were sent to Step by Step School (Sector 132), Gyanshree School (Sector 127), The Heritage School (Sector 128), and Mayoor School (Sector 126) around 12.30am on Wednesday.
The identical e-mails said there was a bomb on their campuses and contained anti-Hindu statements and references to harming “kaafirs”. They prompted evacuations as cops, fire brigades, dog squads and bomb detection teams were rushed to the campuses. After thorough checking, emergency response teams declared that the schools were safe.
The teenager, the DCP said, included four schools in his plan to avoid scrutiny of his institute’s students.
“The videos that the minor saw on YouTube inspired him to do such a thing. He wanted an off day just for fun,” a police source said.
The student also sent a message to a friend to “brag” about sending the threat e-mails.
“The minor clicked an image of the e-mail and sent it to his friend. His friend’s mother ended up seeing the picture and afterwards informed the minor’s parents,” the source added.
Cops said the student was produced before a juvenile court and sent to a correctional facility on Thursday.
A case was registered at the Sector 126 police station under sections 212 (furnishing false information), 351(4) (criminal intimidation), and 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) of BNS and provisions of the IT Act.
“Even though the student is a minor, the offence will be considered serious given the potential consequences. Such offences are not to be taken lightly as they lead to serious law and order situations. Parents and children are gripped by fear, and police cannot immediately reach all the locations at once, which only exacerbates panic. All such cases will be taken up with rigidity,” the DCP said.
Since May last year, dozens of schools in Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida have received bomb threats via e-mails.
A spate of e-mails threatening that bombs would go off within hours were sent to around 40 schools in Delhi in Dec 2024.
Police found earlier this Jan that a Class 12 student was involved in sending threats to at least 23 of the schools.