Not just Golden Temple, shrines across country got threats, say police

The Amritsar police on Saturday claimed that bomb threats to the Golden Temple were part of a series of threatening emails sent to different religious places simultaneously across the country.

The claim came a day after the police detained Faridabad software engineer Shubham Dubey in the case. The email threats continued even after the police brought Dubey to the city for questioning, with Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar claiming “partial success” in the case.

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has so far received eight emails threatening to blow up the Amritsar shrine, according to sources. The SGPC had received a threat on Friday morning even as Bhullar was holding a press conference over the issue.

The police did not disclose the current status of the probe on Saturday.

However, the police officers handling the probe said many shrines and political offices, including the Gujarat’s CM office, received similar mails since July 14, the day the Golden Temple received the first threatening email.

According to them, such emails were sent by unknown people to places in Hyderabad (Telangana), Benaluru (Karnataka), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Cochin (Kerala), Mumbai (Maharashtra), Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Jaipur (Rajasthan), Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Bhubaneswar (Odisha), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Patna (Bihar), Imphal (Manipur), Delhi, Dehradun (Uttrakhand). The Amritsar police said they were in touch with intelligence agencies and cybercrime units at the national and state-level.

Bhullar said Dubey was being questioned. “Technical analysis in such cases takes time,” he said, adding that suspects would be identified soon.

Leaders pray at shrine

Meanwhile, leaders of all mainstream parties, including those of ruling AAP, paid obeisance at the shrine.

Punjab Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan said the police and the administration were working round-the-clock to unearth the conspiracy. He said Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Maan was in touch with police officials and there was no need of panic.

BJP’s state working president Ashwani Sharma targeted the AAP government for “not showing any urgency” over the issue.

He said CM Mann should have visited the shrine to boost the morale of security forces and devotees.

Sharma was accompanied by former Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, former Rajya Sabha member Shwait Malik and BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh.

Congress leader and Amritsar Lok Sabha MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla, along with party MLAs Rana Gurjit Singh, Sukhwinder Singh Kotli, Hardev Singh Ladi, visited the shrine.

Punjab