Panic gripped the judicial fraternity in Odisha on Friday after district judge courts in Cuttack, Puri, and Phulbani received emails threatening bomb explosions on their premises. This terrifying development comes less than a month after a similar incident targeted courts in Cuttack, Deogarh, and Sambalpur on January 8.
Following the receipt of the threats, massive search and evacuation operations were launched immediately. Odisha's Advocate General, Pitambar Acharya, confirmed the threat emails and urged lawyers, judges, and litigants to remain calm, suggesting this could be another hoax similar to the last incident. Nevertheless, authorities took no chances.
In Puri, Superintendent of Police Prateek Singh confirmed that dog squads and bomb disposal teams were deployed for extensive searches. Similarly, in Cuttack — which was targeted for the second time — police cordoned off the court campus, evacuated all occupants, and initiated anti-sabotage checks. While no suspicious objects were found in Cuttack by noon, officials confirmed that searches would continue until the entire premises is fully sanitised.
Police have launched a high-level investigation to track down the sender of these simultaneous threats. Though the Sambalpur court did not receive a threatening email this time, local police enforced precautionary measures there as well, conducting searches to ensure safety.
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