Bhubaneswar: The Regional Passport Office located in Unit-8, Bhubaneswar, received a bomb threat on Thursday via email, leading to the immediate evacuation of the premises and a large-scale search operation by police and security teams.
According to officials, the threatening email claimed that a bomb had been planted inside the office building. Upon receiving the alert, authorities promptly evacuated all employees and visitors, restricting public access to the area as a precautionary measure.
The Nayapali police station, along with the bomb disposal squad and dog squad, rushed to the spot and launched a thorough search. Teams used metal detectors to comb through the entire office building, while sniffer dogs were deployed to check for any suspicious items or explosives.
After an extensive inspection of all floors, rooms, and surrounding areas, no bomb or any explosive device was recovered. The threat has been declared a hoax, similar to recent incidents in the region.
This incident comes amid a series of bomb threats in Bhubaneswar over the past several days. Earlier, the Bhubaneswar District Court complex also received a similar email threat warning of an explosion which triggered panic, evacuation, and searches by Badagada police and security personnel. That too turned out to be a hoax with no explosives found.
Police have initiated an investigation to trace the origin of the email sender(s) in the passport office case and are examining whether these threats are connected as part of a larger pattern of hoax emails targeting public institutions.
