Chilling bomb threat emails hit 40 Bengaluru schools sparking massive police searches

A fresh wave of panic swept across Bengaluru on July 18 morning after at least 40 private schools received chilling bomb threats via email, prompting mass evacuations, an intense security response, and widespread fear among students, parents, and school authorities.

The anonymous emails, laced with graphic threats of mass murder and suicide, claimed that explosives — specifically TNT — had been planted in black plastic bags inside classrooms. The sender, using the alias “Roadkill,” threatened to “erase every last one of you,” invoking disturbing imagery of carnage and despair while blaming the mental healthcare system for alleged personal trauma.

Schools targeted include some of the city’s most prominent institutions, such as Bishop Cotton Boys’ and Girls’ Schools, The International School Bangalore (TISB), DPS Bangalore South, GEAR Innovative School, Sophia High School, and Baldwin Girls’ High School. Areas affected span Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Kengeri, and parts of Central and East Bengaluru.

The Bengaluru Police acted swiftly, dispatching bomb detection and disposal squads, along with sniffer dogs, to all locations. By noon, no explosives had been found, but search operations continued under high alert. “We are treating this with the utmost seriousness,” a senior police official said.

Email echoes mental health grievances, threatens suicide

The email, reportedly sent through anonymized servers — possibly via VPN or the dark web — contained deeply disturbing content. Apart from threats to students' lives, the sender vented frustration at psychiatrists and the use of psychiatric medication. “I will slit my throat and slit my wrists… I was never truly helped,” it said.

The language and tone bore striking similarities to emails received by over two dozen schools in Delhi earlier this week, marking the fourth such threat in the capital. Delhi’s Modern International, The Sovereign School, and Vasant Valley were among those targeted, raising fears of a larger pattern or coordinated cyber campaign.

A disturbing pattern of hoax threats

This is not the first time Bengaluru has faced such an alert. In December 2023, nearly 70 schools were hit by similar hoax bomb threats, resulting in mass panic and full-blown evacuations. Karnataka Home Department data reveals that in the past three years, 169 hoax bomb threat cases have been registered across the state — 133 of them in Bengaluru alone. Ten people have been arrested so far.

While none of latest threats have resulted in the discovery of actual explosives, the psychological toll is immense. School officials have urged parents to stay calm but vigilant, while police continue to trace the origin of the email and verify any possible links to the Delhi threats.

Security has been beefed up at all vulnerable institutions, and cybercrime units are now collaborating with national agencies to investigate what officials fear could be a dangerous new trend in digital terror tactics.