The Leela group of hotels has received a threatening email saying that explosive devices have been planted in all its hotels across the country, and may go off if a ransom of Rs 42 lakh is not paid.

Investigators got details of the internet protocol (IP) address from which the mail was sent from Google on Saturday. The police said the email was sent to several Leela hotels besides Mumbai, including Bangalore, Kerala, and Goa. The Goa police are also probing the case.

A police source said the email had two IP addresses, one from Kenya and the other from the UAE. "Two people could be jointly operating the single email ID," he said.

The sender had declared that if the management failed to reply to the email, it would be considered betrayal. Although the message demanded the ransom be paid in Australian dollars, it contained no instructions. "The email did not mention how the payment should be made. The hotel management was asked to reply to the mail, when further instructions on the mode of the payment would have been made,"

Vivek Nair, vice-chairman and managing director of Leela Group, said, "We have received similar email messages in several of our hotels. The sender mentioned bombs kept in the hotels. On police instructions, we tried to reply, but the mail bounced. The email did not mention any name. We think it's a hoax."

The email threat comes barely a month and a half after the 26/11 terror attack in which two five star hotels—the Taj and Trident—were targeted, besides CST station and Nariman House. Did they leave Leela to target in future and create another saga of terror?