An online gaming chat session by a group of students led to the bomb scare. (Representational)
The bomb threat emails sent to schools in Lucknow on May 13 were the handiwork of a group of school children who 'accidentally' forwarded the emails during an online chatting session, officials said.
The Lucknow police and the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) wings of the Uttar Pradesh Police have worked out the case.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (South Zone), Tej Swaroop Singh, said, "Chatting during an online gaming session by a group of children aged between 10-11 years went awry when a message of a bomb attack was wrongly forwarded to a private school's email ID in Lucknow."
He said, "Interestingly, the children were all from different states, including Maharashtra, and are not interlinked to each other. The children are innocent and their identity is being kept secret. These children are not related to the similar bomb threats received at Kanpur and Delhi schools."
A private school had received an e-mail of a bomb threat.
Gauging the seriousness of the matter, an FIR under the relevant section was registered after a complaint by the school's principal.
The DCP also said that to work out the case, a team of surveillance, and Sushant Golf City police was formed.
"During the probe, it was found that the children were chatting on a gaming app 'Discord' where they wrongly sent the bomb attack mail to the Lucknow school," the DCP added.
The children told police that they got the school ID from a pamphlet.
The DCP also said that the case has not been closed yet, as the police are still probing it from other angles.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)