Jammu, Jan 26 (IANS): A bomb threat at the venue of the main Republic Day parade in J&K’s Jammu city proved to be a hoax, officials said on Sunday.

Hours before the main Republic Day parade was to start at the Maulana Azad Memorial (MAN) Stadium in Jammu, a bomb threat was received through email late Saturday evening. This prompted the authorities to launch a minute search operation inside and around the MAM Stadium on Sunday morning which turned out to be a hoax.

Officials said the threat email was sent to the official email accounts of various departments, including the secretary of higher education and director of higher education on Saturday night.

The email prompted the deployment of multiple teams of bomb disposal squad at the stadium which was thoroughly searched in the presence of senior police officers throughout the night while nothing incriminating was found during the searches.

They said a special team was also constituted to identify and arrest the culprits who had sent the email. J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha is scheduled to unfurl the national flag and take a salute at the parade at the MAM Stadium while Chief Minister Omar Abdullah will be the chief guest.

Extraordinary security arrangements have been made to secure the main Republic Day parade in J&K. This is the first Republic Day celebration being held in the union territory after an elected government took office following peaceful Legislative Assembly elections. Both Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly elections were held in J&K last year. These elections were watched by the diplomats of many countries.

In the Valley, the main divisional-level Republic Day parade is being held at the Bakshi Stadium. Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary is scheduled to preside over the parade in Bakshi Stadium. Ministers and District Development Council (DDC) chairpersons will attend the celebrations being held at the other district headquarters.