Mumbai, March 12 Maharashtra Minister of State for Home (Urban) Yogesh Kadam said on Thursday that the email threatening bomb attacks on key buildings, including the Vidhan Bhavan and BSE, should not be linked to the ongoing West Asia conflict, while the Congress sought a thorough investigation into the matter.
He said that security agencies were investigating the source of the message, while the Vidhan Bhavan in south Mumbai, where the budget session is currently underway, remained secure.
An email threatening "missile and bomb attacks" on the Vidhan Bhavan and other key locations in Mumbai triggered a security alert on Thursday, prompting authorities to conduct extensive searches in the legislature complex, officials said.
The email, received on an official email account of the legislature at 6.57 am, mentioned possible attacks on the Vidhan Bhavan complex, the Bombay Stock Exchange, the Bombay High Court, the Mumbai Metro, and a bank, Legislative Council chairman Ram Shinde said.
Speaking to reporters, Kadam said that authorities were trying to find out the origin of the email and the identity of its sender.
"Such hoax emails do sometimes appear, but the Vidhan Bhavan is secure. A war is going on in the Middle East, but linking this email to that conflict would be incorrect. Security reviews have been conducted in Mumbai and other important locations," Kadam asserted.
The minister said that the source of the email had not yet been traced, and similar messages had been received earlier as well.
"We are reviewing security at all the places mentioned in the email," he insisted.
Speaking to reporters in the Vidhan Bhavan premises, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Vijay Wadettiwar emphasised that the email should be taken seriously in view of the ongoing conflict in West Asia triggered by the February 28 attacks by US-Israel forces on Iran.
"Whenever such emails are received, it is natural that the government should remain alert so that no untoward incident takes place," Wadettiwar said.
He questioned the strength of India's intelligence apparatus and said the conflict broke out just after Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded his visit to Israel.
Raising the issue in the assembly, Wadettiwar urged the state government to take immediate note of the bomb threat issued through an email.
He insisted that the matter was serious as the threat had surfaced while the legislature was in session.
Wadettiwar demanded that the state home department conduct a thorough investigation to trace the origin of the email and asked the government to make a statement on the issue in the House at the earliest.
Speaking through a point of order, the Congress MLA said that it was still unclear who sent the email and what forces might be behind it.
He, however, noted that there were discussions in some quarters about a possible link to pro-Khalistani groups.
"If threats are being issued to blow up such important locations, it raises questions whether this reflects a failure of the intelligence system," the CLP leader maintained.
Wadettiwar asked whether the threat could be linked to rising global tensions, referring to the ongoing conflict between the United States-Israel and Iran.
