NEW DELHI, Oct 27: After Rajkot in Gujarat, it was the turn of Lucknow, the capital city of Uttar Pradesh, on Sunday. At least 10 major hotels in Lucknow, mostly premium properties, received bomb threats via emails on Sunday. The email threatened that the explosion would take place if the ransom demand of $55,000 (Rs 46 Lakhs) was not met.
“Bombs are hidden in black bags on the grounds of your hotel. I want $55,000, or I will detonate the explosives and blood will spread everywhere. Any attempt at defusing the bombs will detonate them,” reads the bomb threat email.
The hotels that received bomb threats are Marriott, Saraca, Piccadily, Comfort Vista, Fortune, Lemon Tree, Clark Awadh, Casa, Dayal Gateway, and Silvette. After receiving the threats, the hotel managements informed the police, prompting swift investigations by local authorities.
The sender asked the hotels to contact them for ransom payment on “primary email address: shaikha.nasser20077@gmail.com.”
The threats to Lucknow hotels came a day after 10 hotels in Rajkot in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat received similar threats on Saturday, except that there was no mention of ransom demand. Earlier this week, three hotels in Andhra Pradesh temple town of Tirupati had received bomb threats.
The email said “international pressure” had mounted due to the arrest of Jaffer Sadiq and that “such blats (sic) in schools are necessary to divert the attention away from MK Stalin family’s involvement in the case.”
Last month, the Taj West End Hotel in Bengaluru had also received a bomb threat email. It led to the authorities bringing in the sniffer dogs and the bomb squad for inspection. However, after conduction the probe, a senior police officer had said the bomb threat was a hoax.
This comes after repeated hoax bomb threats issued to several flights over the past few days. Airline carriers have been plagued by such threats — mostly over social media — that have caused numerous disruptions, including delays and passenger inconvenience.
The central government is planning to introduce strict amendments to civil aviation safety laws to bring the culprits to book, including punishment ranging from life imprisonment term to being put on no-fly list.
(Manas Dasgupta)