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Indore’s Holkar Stadium is the third cricket stadium in the country to receive a ‘bomb blast’ threat with mention of India’s ‘Operation Sindoor’ against Pakistan.

The famous Holkar Stadium in Indore received a bomb blast threat, with the unidentified sender of an e-mail warning of retaliation in response to Operation Sindoor, police said on Saturday. The threat turned out to be a hoax coming in the middle of ongoing India-Pakistan war.

“MPCA’s (Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association) official email (ID) on Friday received a threatening message. The email, written in English, mentions that the stadium will be blasted due to ‘Operation Sindoor’ (of Indian armed forces),” Tukoganj police station in-charge Jitendra Singh Yadav told PTI.

After being alerted by MPCA, four teams of police personnel and a bomb squad thoroughly searched the stadium’s premises for five hours. “No suspicious thing was found in the Holkar stadium,” Yadav said.

The Holkar Stadium is famous for former India opener Virender Sehwag’s iconic 219 against in an ODI match against the West Indies back in 2011. It has also hosted IPL matches in IPL 2011 as well as in the 2017. It was the ‘home ground’ of Bollywood star Preity Zinta co-owned Punjab Kings in 2017.

Police are trying to trace the origin of the hoax e-mail in collaboration with the cyber squad, and legal action will be taken. Prima facie, the email seems a ‘copy-paste’ job for mischief, although the police are investigating various aspects, an officer said.

The officer said that in the past months, fake emails threatening to bomb Indore airport, bank branches, hospitals, and schools have been received. He said an accused has been arrested in one case.

A ‘threat’ had been received, which claimed that a bomb would be detonated if cricket events were to be held here, police said on Friday. An investigation has been ordered, a police official said, adding the threat was made via an e-mail, which warned against cricket events at the M A Chidambaram stadium in Chennai, the home of MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings.

Following the receipt of the mail, a bomb disposal squad made a thorough inspection and did not find anything suspicious, police officials told PTI adding ‘it was a hoax’. The e-mail was received on Thursday and it was brought to the notice of police on May 9 morning, following which an inspection was held.

Asked if this was suspected to be a handiwork of repeat offenders, the official said a probe would unmask those behind the threat.

The Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) on Friday received bomb threat emails at the Arun Jaitley Stadium following the Indian Army’s ‘Operation Sindoor’. The emails were sent to the DDCA’s official email ID, and retaliation was threatened at the stadium in response to the operation.

The bomb threat email was received on Friday morning, prompting immediate action from the authorities. “The mail came in the morning between 11 and 12 at the DDCA’s official email ID. It was a threatening email in which it was written that we will retaliate at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in response to Operation Sindoor. We sent it to the President, and the bomb squad came to the venue and checked everything and went,” DDCA Secretary Ashok Sharma told ANI news agency.

The bomb squad inspected the venue and cleared it after finding no evidence of any explosive devices.