Five star hotel gets threatening emails; security increased

Security was beefed up at the five-star Hotel Leela, located near the international airport terminal here, after two emails were received in which the sender threatened to blow it up, police said today. The emails were received by the hotel management on Friday and Saturday following which searches were carried out on both days by the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad.

However, nothing suspicious was found on both occasions. In both e-mails, the sender threatened to blow up the hotel unless a sum of USD 1.3 lakh was paid to him, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Nisar Tamboli told PTI. "The identity of the sender was not revealed and neither was the place where the payment to be made mentioned," he said.

Despite the emails seeming like a hoax, police are not taking any chances and additional security has been provided at the hotel. The Cyber Crime Cell of the Crime Branch is also carrying out a parallel inquiry into the matter and officials said the emails are suspected to have been sent from abroad.