The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and two private banks in Mumbai were threatened with explosions on Tuesday by an email sender going by the handle “Khilafat India,” unless RBI governor Shaktikanta Das and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman resigned from their posts.
Eleven bombs were allegedly hidden in different parts of the city, including the RBI New Central Office Building in Fort, HDFC House at Churchgate, and ICICI Bank Towers at Bandra Kurla Complex, according to an email with the subject line “Breaking News” that was copied to many officials. The email stated that if the demands were not fulfilled, the bombs would go off at 1:30 pm.
Included in the email were accusations made against the RBI, the Finance Minister, the RBI governor, and a few other prominent bankers and ministers of involvement in the “biggest scam in the history of India”. According to the email, they have sufficient proof to back up their claims.
After responding quickly, the Mumbai Police inspected every place listed in the email; however, they were unable to locate any bombs or suspicious items. The police are looking into the source and purpose of the email and have filed a criminal intimidation case. Additionally, the banks and the RBI office are now more heavily guarded by the police.
As of now, neither the RBI nor the banks have released a formal comment regarding the email threat. The governor of the RBI, and the finance minister have not responded to the call for their resignations either.
