New Delhi, March 25 The Delhi Assembly received a fresh bomb threat email on Wednesday, prompting intensive checks even as House proceedings were underway, a day after a similar threat surfaced just hours before Chief Minister Rekha Gupta's scheduled budget presentation, officials said.
The entire Assembly premises were searched by sniffer dogs and bomb detection teams, and nothing suspicious was found. It turned out to be a hoax, said a senior police officer.
Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta, informing the House about the bomb threat, said, "The email was sent to the Speaker's Office at the Delhi Assembly mentioning certain organizations allegedly linked to Naxalites and Pakistan-based units."
The email claimed that 16 RDX-IEDs had been planted, with a plan to trigger blasts at 1:40 pm.
Gupta said it was a clear instruction to the police to investigate the matter from every possible angle.
"It is imperative to unmask the terrorist and anti-national forces that are being encouraged or supported through various channels within this country," he said.
The Speaker said that the Assembly Secretariat has already forwarded the emails, including one sent on Tuesday, to the police and its cybercrime team was also probing the matter.
On the threat mail, Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa alleged that AAP could be behind the threats. "Such threats at the time when Chief Minister Rekha Gupta presented the Delhi budget were not natural. The probe should also investigate if there was any role of AAP in it," he said.
No immediate reaction was available from the AAP on the minister's allegation.
The sender of the mail also made several provocative political assertions and references in the message, officials said.
The development came a day after the Assembly received two threatening emails on Tuesday morning via an email to the assembly at 7:28 am, followed by another email sent to Speaker Gupta at 7:49 am, prompting a massive security drill ahead of the chief minister's scheduled budget presentation.
Following the fresh threat, security agencies intensified checks in and around the Assembly premises. Bomb disposal squads, dog squads and local police teams carried out anti-sabotage sweeps to rule out the presence of any explosive material, the officials said.
"We are taking every threat seriously. Thorough checking is being conducted and surveillance has been stepped up," a senior police officer said, adding that access control measures were further tightened.
Cyber experts and security agencies have launched a detailed investigation to trace the origin of the email. Technical surveillance, including IP tracking and email header analysis, is being used to identify the sender, the police said.