Bomb threat to RBI, 10 other locations in Mumbai; mail seeks FM resignation

Mumbai, Dec 26 (PTI) A threat mail sent to the Reserve Bank here about 11 bomb blasts in Mumbai on Tuesday sent police into a tizzy, but no suspicious object was found at these locations, including the RBI central office building and two other banks.

The e-mail was sent from the id khilafat.india@gmail.com on the RBI governor's email id at around 10:50 am threatening bomb blasts at the RBI new Central Office building, Fort, HDFC House in Churchgate, and ICICI Bank Tower in Bandra-Kurla Complex at 1:30 pm, a police official said.

Threatening execution of blasts, the sender demanded that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and RBI governor Shaktikanta Das resign from their posts immediately and release a full statement about the disclosure of the "banking scam", as per the FIR.

"11 bombs are planted at different locations in Mumbai and explosions will take place at 1.30 pm at the RBI new Central Office building, Fort, HDFC House in Churchgate, and ICICI Bank Tower in Bandra-Kurla Complex. All the 11 bombs will blast one by one (sic)," it said.

Police conducted searches at all the locations mentioned in the e-mail with Bomb Detection and Disposal (BDDS) personnel, but nothing suspicious was found at these spots, the official said.

He said a case has been registered against an unidentified person on the complaint of the RBI head guard under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including 505-1 b (Making or circulating a false alarm or warning as to disaster or its severity or magnitude, leading to panic), 502-2 (Statements conducting public mischief) and 506- 2 (Criminal intimidation).

Further investigation is underway, the official said. PTI