Bomb threat emails hit courts across Maharashtra, including Amravati; no explosives found in early searches

Several district and sessions courts in Maharashtra received emails carrying bomb threats at the same time on Monday afternoon, causing alarm in the state's justice system. As a precaution, court work was stopped, premises were vacated and a security alert was issued across the state.

The threats were reportedly sent to courts in Mumbai, Konkan, Western Maharashtra, North Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarbha. The affected courts include the district and sessions court in Amravati. Some other district courts in the region were also reportedly covered by the threatening messages.

Monday is the first working day of the week, so courts had a sizeable crowd of litigants, lawyers, judges and staff. The sudden threat brought normal hearings to a halt, and officials had to stop work and vacate the premises.

The district and sessions court at Shivajinagar in Pune was among the major courts targeted. As soon as the threat email reached the court's official inbox, senior judicial officers directed that the premises be vacated at once. Pune Police took control of the entire court complex and moved judges, lawyers, staff and hundreds of litigants to safe places. Security was tightened on all entry and exit routes.

The Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS), the dog squad and senior Crime Branch officers arrived at the Shivajinagar court complex. All floors, judges' chambers, the bar room, the record room, toilets and other areas were searched thoroughly. Hundreds of vehicles parked on the premises were also checked with metal detectors.

Questions over security of Vidarbha courts: After the simultaneous threats in different parts of the state, attention has also turned to the security preparedness of courts in Vidarbha. Amravati figured prominently in the list of affected courts. This has raised the concern that there may have been a coordinated attempt to spread panic in the judicial buildings of the region.

Local police and bomb disposal squads were deployed to secure the affected court buildings, get people out and carry out full searches. Similar precautionary steps were taken in other parts of the state, including Thane, Dindoshi in Mumbai, Nashik, Ratnagiri, Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Ahilyanagar, Beed, Parbhani and Hingoli.

Despite the large security operation, initial searches at the locations in early reports found no explosive material.

Cyber agencies investigate: The targeting of several courts at once has raised serious questions about the source and motive of the threats and possible coordination behind them. Pune Cyber Police, the Maharashtra State Cyber Department and the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) have begun an intensive investigation to identify the unknown senders of the emails.

Investigators are looking for technical clues on whether the messages were sent through VPN networks, proxy servers, fake domains or some other means of hiding the sender's identity. The agencies are also examining whether this was merely a hoax meant to disrupt court work and spread panic, or part of a larger conspiracy to intimidate the justice system.

The incident has shown how vulnerable key judicial infrastructure is to coordinated threats made through cyber means. After hearings were halted across the state and emergency security checks had to be carried out, officials are now under pressure to trace those responsible and to prevent such threats from recurring.

Police have appealed to citizens and litigants not to believe or forward unverified information, and to remain calm while the investigation and security checks continue.