A threatening email warning of bomb blasts in Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura has triggered a security alert in Uttar Pradesh days before Diwali, and investigators are now working to trace who sent it.

The mail claims explosions will be carried out in the three cities between November 8 and November 27. It was sent in the name of the Khalistan National Army, according to the report.

Sources say the email reached a school in Ayodhya run under the ICSE board. Two schools in Ambedkar Nagar have also received similar threatening mails. The message asks schools not to send children to class during the window it specifies, citing the safety of students.

The 1984 reference

The mail also refers to the 1984 riots. It uses the words ‘khoon ka badla khoon’, which translates as ‘blood for blood’, and says Sikh ‘naxal’ action will follow. The line is central to how investigators are reading the threat, because it ties a specific historical wound to a set of named religious and pilgrimage cities.

‘Blood for blood’ is the phrase the sender used, and it is the line that has pushed the case beyond a routine hoax check.

Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura are among the most visited religious centres in Uttar Pradesh. Each one draws large crowds during festival periods, which is why a threat naming all three in the same breath carries weight beyond the message itself. A threat that names places of worship and crowded public spaces during the festive season is designed to create fear, even if no device is ever found.

What the investigation is looking at

The cyber cell in Ayodhya has started examining the threatening mail. The UP Anti-Terrorist Squad, known as UP ATS, has also been brought into the case. Agencies are gathering information on the people who sent the mail and trying to establish whether anyone else was behind it.

The probe is focused on three questions. First, who sent the messages and from where. Second, whose hand may be behind the threat. Third, what network was used to send it. The third question matters because it could show whether the mails were a single operation or part of a wider pattern aimed at several districts at once.

Why schools are at the centre of this

The school angle is what makes this threat feel immediate for families. Telling parents not to send children to school for a fixed window is a direct attempt to reach households, not just security agencies. It turns a message about bombs into a question every parent in the affected districts has to answer this week.

The warnings reached two different districts, Ayodhya and Ambedkar Nagar, which suggests the sender wanted to spread the threat across more than one area. For school administrators and local police, that makes the response a coordination problem as well as a security one.

What readers outside India should understand

For diaspora readers following India’s security situation, the key point is that this threat is aimed at festivals, religious sites and children at the same time. Investigators have not yet linked the mail to a confirmed attack plan, and the report does not say any device has been found. Reading the story accurately means holding both facts together: the threat is serious enough to bring in the ATS, but the report does not show that an explosion is imminent.

The national angle is the government response during the festive season. Uttar Pradesh is putting its cyber cell and anti-terror unit on the case during the busiest days of the calendar. The speed of that response, and the fact that an ICSE-run school and two schools in another district were all contacted, are the details that will shape how this story is read in the coming days.

What comes next

The period named in the mail runs until November 27, which means the investigation will continue well past Diwali. Investigators will need to confirm whether the emails are genuine threats, pranks, or messages designed to create panic. Until that is established, schools and local authorities are treating the warnings as credible enough to act on. Families in Ayodhya, Ambedkar Nagar, Kashi and Mathura will be watching for any update from police on whether the threat is being contained.