Bengaluru Metro gets bomb threat: Man warns of blast ‘if ex-wife tortured’; claims to be ‘terrorist-like person’

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The Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) has received a threatening email in which a man warned he would blow up a metro station if his “ex-wife is tortured”. The mail, sent from a Gmail account, reached the official BMRCL inbox at 11.25 pm on November 13.

According to officials, the email claimed that metro staff were mentally harassing the sender’s former wife, identified as Padmini.

"If ever I come to know that your metro employees are torturing mentally my past divorced wife Padmini after duty hours, be careful, one of your metro stations gets blasted... I am also a terrorist-like PATRIOTIC person against Kannadigas," the threat read.

BMRCL Assistant Executive Engineer Ratheesh Thomas checked the email and informed the police the next day, according to a report by India Today. A non-cognisable report was first registered at Wilson Garden Police Station.

After police approached the court for permission, a formal FIR was filed on November 15. Investigators are now trying to identify the person behind the message and understand the motive. Security teams are expected to increase surveillance and review safety protocols at metro stations as a precaution.

The incident comes at a time when Bengaluru has seen a rise in threat emails targeting public places. Recently, police arrested a woman techie from Ahmedabad for sending multiple fake bomb threats to schools in Bengaluru.

The case began when a city school received a bomb threat on June 14. As more schools reported similar emails, police traced the messages to Rene Joshilda, a software engineer.

She allegedly sent the threats using the name of her lover after he refused to marry her. During interrogation, she admitted to sending similar fake alerts to institutions in several states, including Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Kerala, Bihar, Telangana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana.

Police said she used VPNs and virtual mobile numbers to hide her identity while sending the threatening messages.