Two days after bomb threat email, city police conduct security audit of civil court

Ranchi: Two days after the Ranchi civil court received an email threatening to blow up the court premises with RDX, the city police on Friday noon pressed bomb detecting and disposal squads into service along with sniffer dogs to carry out detailed security checks. Later, the police declared the threat a hoax.

Notably, the threatening email came to the civil court’s registrar on Feb 4 evening, which was a holiday on account of Shab-e-barat. The email threatened to blow up the premises on the same day, but the court registrar’s office detected it on Feb 5 and informed the police promptly on that day, sources said.

Soon after getting the information, the police on Friday noon conducted a security audit. Several police teams inspected different areas, including the open spaces, parking and lifts during the exercise, but no explosives were found. The overall security scenario at the court was also assessed.

During the security audit, the lawyers were abstaining from court work to protest against the alleged misbehaviour of the SC-ST thana officer with the women advocates on Thursday.

The sources said the e-mail was sent to one Arum Kumar of DMK’s IT wing. The DMK mentioned seemed to indicate the ruling Tamil Nadu DMK party. The mail had asked for the release of some LTTE prisoners lodged in jail. Notably, no LTTE prisoners are in Jharkhand jails, but as a precaution, the state police administration carried out the security checks, officials said.

SP (city) Paras Rana said, “We are investigating the case to verify and trace its source and the sender. There is also confusion in the content as the mail has been sent to the Ranchi civil court, but it mentions Bihar.”

Steps have already been initiated to increase the security of the civil court campus. The installation of boom barriers and flap barriers is underway along all the gates around the court premises to improve the safety environment and prevent the entry of anti-social and unauthorised persons. Every nook and corner of the court is under CCTV camera coverage.

Notably, similar threatening emails were received by multiple courts in Odisha. Bihar also received such threats earlier.

Our Bhubaneshwar correspondent added that the fresh threats to the Odisha courts came just a day after the consulates of Italy and Japan in Bengaluru received hoax bomb threats via email.

Odisha police said the district and sessions courts in Cuttack, Puri, Phulbani, Sambalpur, Bargarh and Jajpur received emails threatening to detonate RDX bombs on the premises of these court complexes. The messages triggered panic among lawyers, litigants and judges, forcing the police to launch a fresh round of investigation.

Although the emails closely resembled those received on Jan 8 — which were later confirmed as a hoax — the police did not dismiss the matter, particularly in view of President Droupadi Murmu’s ongoing visit to Odisha and extensive security checks were carried out.

Police sources revealed that both sets of emails originated from the same address — arundale_kumar@hotmail.com — and contained references to Tamil Nadu constables and the LTTE.

On Jan 29 this year, five civil courts in Bihar, including those in Samastipur, Bhagalpur, Siwan, Begusarai and Muzaffarpur, received bomb threats, triggering panic.

Earlier on Jan 8 morning, several courts in Bihar, including Patna civil court and Danapur sub-divisional court, were evacuated following anonymous email threats claiming the presence of RDX explosives on the premises. The threats, which warned of potential blasts, prompted immediate security responses with bomb squads deployed, though thorough searches found no explosives at any location.

The Patna authorities also heightened security measures at the Patna civil court and other subdivisional courts of the district in October 2025 following a bomb threat received via email, officials said.