Tight security around high court in Chandigarh after bomb threat

Chandigarh: Tight security measures were in place at the Punjab and Haryana High Court complex on Friday following an anonymous letter which threatened that blasts would rock the premises on Friday.

Scores of Chandigarh Police personnel and para-military forces were seen around the high-security complex since the morning.

All the lawyers, litigants and visitors were frisked and metal detectors installed at all the entry points.

Armed guards were stationed all around the high court complex and even outside court rooms.

The anonymous letter threatened to carry out 21 blasts and kill 21 judges of the high court.

Security around the complex was beefed up since Wednesday after the threat was received in Jalandhar.

“We have taken adequate precautions in view of the threat letter. Security is on high alert at the high court premises,” senior superintendent of police Maneesh Chaudhary told media.

The high court bar association asked all lawyers to cooperate with the heightened security measures.

The threat letter was sent to the Punjab Press Club in Jalandhar on Tuesday, police said.

The letter, in Punjabi language, threatened that blasts would be carried out in the court complex — in Chandigarh’s high-security Sector One area — on August 21 and that judges would be killed.

Police officials here held a meeting with the high court officials on Wednesday and decided to beef up security around the court complex.

The high court complex daily gets hundreds of lawyers, litigants and other visitors.