Panic in High Court in Dharwad, District Courts in Gadag, Bagalkot after bomb threat

Panic spread among court staff, advocates, litigant public and others at the High Court of Karnataka in Dharwad and the District Courts in Gadag and Bagalkot on Tuesday following emails about bomb threat which ultimately turned out to be hoax.

In Dharwad, following the email containing the bomb threat, the High Court premises were evacuated, while court proceedings were suspended for the day with police tightening security in the court complex.

Following the bomb scare, bomb detection and disposal squads, along with dog squads, were immediately pressed into service and scores of police personnel carried out thorough checks. The search did not yield any suspicious articles.

Similar was the situation on the District Court premises in Bagalkot after an email sent to Principal District and Sessions Judge N.V. Vijay warned of a bomb in the court.

On being alerted, a team of police officers, accompanied by the district dog squad, visited the court and began inspection.

They sent out all the judges, staff, lawyers and others out of the premises and conducted the search operation. However, it proved to be a false alarm. Court activities resumed after some time, the police said.

The District Court in Gadag too received similar email warning of a bomb being planted on the premises. The court complex was immediately evacuated and a thorough search was carried out, during which, no suspicious article was found.

Investigation is on to trace the origin of the emails.