Delhi student, 16, held over hoax bomb email to own school

A 16-year-old Class 11 student in the Indian capital has been apprehended for allegedly sending a fake bomb threat to her own school in an attempt to get classes cancelled, according to Indian media reports.

The student allegedly emailed Air Force Bal Bharati School on Lodhi Road on October 23. The message carried the subject line “Bombs Placed in Your Building”. Delhi Police apprehended her on Saturday, Hindustan Times reported.

A long weekend as the alleged motive

She reportedly wanted the school shut for the day. With Monday a public holiday for Valmiki Jayanti, a Friday closure would have given her four consecutive days off.

How investigators traced the email

The South District cyber police station began a technical investigation soon after the threat arrived, reviewing the email, digital evidence and records from service providers.

Hindustan Times reported that the girl allegedly sent the message from her mother’s phone through a free virtual private network (VPN). The app reportedly buckled under traffic, revealing the handset’s true location.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Anant Mittal said investigators identified the alleged sender as a student of the same school. Matching the device and IP details supplied by the providers led officers to her, the newspaper reported.

She has been booked under juvenile justice law, and proceedings are continuing, reports said.

Other Delhi schools receive threats

The arrest follows a run of threatening emails sent to schools across the capital.

On Friday morning, Sardar Patel Vidyalaya in Lodi Estate, Venkateshwar Global School in Rohini and Salwan Public School in Mayur Vihar were also reported to have received bomb threats.

All three were evacuated as a precaution, and police, fire crews, bomb disposal teams and sniffer dogs searched the buildings. PTI said the searches had turned up nothing suspicious so far, and police are still tracing those emails.