Indian IT firms in Bangalore receive terror e-mails

India's most visible face in the global economy - IT companies - has now become the latest target for terror threats. Several such companies in India's Silicon Valley of Bangalore received an e-mail last week threatening to blow up their facilities, according to police officials.

The e-mail was addressed to six companies in Bangalore, said Bangalore's joint commissioner of police, Gopal B Hosur, on Monday. The mail was sent from a location in Bangalore, and police are working on tracking the sender, he said. Apart from Infosys and Wipro, multinationals such as Accenture and Capgemini have received such terror threats.

''The city anti-terrorist cell (ATC) is investigating the e-mail threats received by some top IT firms located across the city's southeast IT corridor from Whitefield to Electronic City… A couple of mails appear to have originated from a suburb in the city. The nature of content makes us suspect how genuine are these threats, as there is no specific mention of the target, by whom and where,'' Hosur asserted. One of the e-mails warns of an ''imminent attack between March 13-26 and none can stop them in their mission''.

The mail also mentions how ill equipped Indian security forces are to combat terrorism. 'The police department has been given sub-standard bulletproof jackets. This helped us to kill them. All National Security Guard commandos are given the same poor quality helmets and bulletproof jackets,' the e-mail said.

''This is the first time we are getting such a threat mail where a terror attack is planned and informed in advance. Though it can be a hoax to mislead or make us complacent, we are not taking chances and cracking the case seriously,'' Hosur said.

Hinting that some of the e-mails could have emanated from outside the state of Karnataka or the country, Hosur said the IT firms that received the threats had forwarded the e-mails to the city crime branch of CoD (core of detectives), which has a special cell to deal with cyber crimes.

''Since the 26 November Mumbai terror attacks, we have received 15 such emails over the last month. Some appear to be an outright hoax or a prank. We hope to crack the cases soon for an early breakthrough,'' city police commissioner Shankar Bidari told reporters after a meeting of the top police brass, including six deputy commissioners of police.

In view of the terror menace gripping the nation, especially since the Mumbai attacks, the city police have directed the IT firms to beef up security in their premises and ensure the safety of their employees. ''We are doing our best to ensure no such terror incidents take place again here. Besides surveillance, mobile patrolling and 24×7 information network, additional forces are being deployed as per requirement and in consultation with the IT firms,'' Bidari affirmed.

Infosys has received a threatening e-mail, also addressed to various other companies, said a spokeswoman for the company. Local authorities have been contacted and are investigating, while security continues to be on alert in all Infosys campuses, she added. Wipro declined to comment on the e-mail threat.