Chandigarh | Several schools in Chandigarh were evacuated after they received bomb threat emails on Wednesday, said police.

After the school authorities informed the police about bomb threat emails, policemen reached school premises and conducted thorough searches of the educational institutions, they said.

At least five schools, including private ones, received the threat emails.

Bomb disposal and sniffer dog squads were rushed to school premises to carry out searches.

Students and school staff have been evacuated, they said, adding that security was stepped up around the schools.

Students on way to the schools were sent back home, they said.

The school authorities told the police that they received bomb threat emails on Wednesday morning and thereafter, they informed the police.

The incident comes close on the heels of similar incidents in Amritsar, Jalandhar and Patiala in Punjab and Ambala in Haryana, where some schools got similar threats which later turned out to be hoaxes.