Chandigarh: A bomb hoax spread panic at the Punjab civil secretariat in Chandigarh on Sunday, even as a the budget session was underway at the neighbouring state assembly building. The email warned that during the assembly session underway on Sunday, the secretariat building would be blown up with a drone or car bomb attack in the afternoon. It mentioned Punjab’s political leadership and international issues, invoking the name of a ‘Khalistan National Army’. Taking the email seriously, security arrangements were tightened in and around the secretariat, and commandos were deployed. Bomb and dog squads also carried out checking. However, no explosive material was found. Even after this, security agencies remained on alert throughout the session. Police and intelligence agencies were engaged in tracing the IP address of the email and the location of the sender. This is not the first case of a bomb hoax in Chandigarh. Earlier too, similar hoaxes were made several times to blow up buildings ranging from schools to the high court. In most cases, it was observed that the IP address of the threatening emails originated from abroad. Therefore, reaching the person making the threats was proving difficult.
