Repeated hoax bomb threats keep Chennai police, bomb squad on their toes

It has been a tense — and slightly absurd — fortnight for the city police, as pranksters have been flooding the inboxes of VIPs, celebrities, and even the Director-General of Police (DGP) with bomb threat emails.

The Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) has been rushing from one posh address to another, playing an uninvited game of hide-and-seek with bombs that were never there.

Frequent target

Among the many recipients, actor and comedian S.Ve. Shekher appears to have received the highest number of threats. In just two weeks, he was sent 43 emails from fictitious senders claiming that RDX bombs had been planted at his Mandaveli residence. The messages triggered panic among his family, prompting the police and BDDS team — with full gear and a sniffer dog — to conduct repeated search