Over 40 schools in Delhi, including some prominent institutions, received identical bomb threat emails in the early hours of Monday, triggering panic and police searches as parents rushed to the campuses to pick up their children.

Later, security agencies declared the threat a “hoax” as “nothing objectionable” was found during their searches.

Police said panic gripped over 40 schools in Delhi and prompted evacuations after they received the bomb threats via email. Among those that received the threats were Delhi Public School, RK Puram; DPS Vasant Kunj; GD Goenka, Paschim Vihar; The British School; Salwan Public School; Modern School; The Mother’s International; Cambridge School and multiple DAV schools.

“Over 40 schools in Delhi received a bomb threat mail on Monday morning with the sender demanding $30,000, prompting a multi-agency search of the premises but nothing suspicious was found,” said a police officer.

Most schools that received the threat suspended classes and sent students back home.

As the news spread, anxious parents rushed to the schools. Chaos prevailed in several institutions as parents led their children away from the school premises. Teachers and staff managed the crisis by gathering students to safe locations before coordinating their dispersal once parents arrived.

Sources said the first alert came from GD Goenka Paschim Vihar at 6.15am, followed by DPS RK Puram at 7am. The emails claimed that bombs had been placed in the schools. Bomb disposal squads of Delhi police and fire department officials were deployed to the affected campuses to conduct thorough sweeps.

“No suspicious objects have been found at any location so far, but the threat emails caused significant disruption. Students and staff were evacuated as a precautionary measure and the schools have been temporarily closed while investigations are under way. Cybercrime teams are working to trace the sender of the emails,” the police officer said.

In a post on X, Delhi chief minister Atishi said: “After the daily incidents of ransom, murders, firing in Delhi, now threats of bombing of schools are being received. The law and order situation in Delhi has never been so bad before. The BJP-ruled central government has failed in its only task of providing security to the people of Delhi.”

AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal slammed Union home minister Amit Shah for “such a bad state of law and order” in Delhi. In a post on X, the former chief minister wrote: “The people of Delhi have never seen such a bad state of law and order in Delhi before. Amit Shahji should come forward and answer the people of Delhi.”

Kejriwal’s remarks come just a day after he directly held Shah responsible for the “worsening” situation in Delhi. Delhi police report to the Union home ministry.

This is not the first time multiple schools in Delhi have received threats on the same day. In May, over 100 schools had received similar bomb threats that were hoaxes. Weeks later, Delhi airport and hospitals across the city had received bomb threats via email. In August, over 100 hospitals and malls across the capital got bomb-threat emails. All turned out to be hoaxes.

The police have failed to achieve a breakthrough in all the cases as the emails were sent using the virtual private network (VPN).