Man sends over 1,000 hoax bomb threats across India — arrested from his home, was unemployed

A man identified as Srinivas Louis was arrested on Monday in connection with a series of over 1,000 hoax bomb threats sent to airports, schools, hospitals, and government buildings across India over several months. Louis, who is unemployed and had no prior criminal record, was traced by police using digital forensics and arrested from his home.

The threats, sent via free email services using disposable accounts, caused repeated evacuations and security responses at facilities across multiple states. Each incident required security personnel to conduct full sweeps, costing hundreds of person-hours of law enforcement time and causing significant disruption to the institutions targeted.

Police sources said Louis appeared to have acted entirely alone and without any ideological or financial motive that investigators could identify. “He was sending these threats for reasons we are still trying to understand,” a senior officer told media at a press briefing. Investigators said the scale of the operation — over a thousand threats, sustained over months — suggested a level of persistence and organisation that belied the apparent absence of purpose.

Louis will be charged under the Indian Penal Code provisions covering false bomb threats and public mischief, as well as relevant sections of the IT Act covering cyber offences. The maximum sentence under the applicable provisions is seven years imprisonment.

The case has drawn attention to how easily free digital tools can be used to cause large-scale public disruption, and has prompted calls for platforms offering anonymous email services to implement stronger verification requirements for users in India.