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Modi 'pardons' cyber crime

By Our Special Correspondent

The Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, with Razaq Nazir Kasim of Mumbai, who had issued a threat via e-mail to kill him, at a press conference in Gandhinagar on Sunday. — PTI

GANDHINAGAR Dec. 29. The Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, has asked the anti-terrorist squad of police to withdraw the case against the person who had threatened to kill him.

The threat was issued by a Mumbai-based computer software technologist, Razaq Nazir Kasim, through e-mail in October. Police traced the cyber cafe in Mumbai from where he had sent the e-mail.

The 30-year old Razaq, who originally hails from Tamil Nadu, was working as a project leader in a software company in Mumbai. Following his arrest and confession of the crime before police, he lost his job.

Mr. Razaq was brought from Mumbai and had been in judicial custody from October 31 to November 15. The squad is claimed to have collected enough evidence, besides his own confession, to prove Razaq guilty of the cyber crime, which could have got him five years imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 1 lakh.

Mr. Modi, however, went through Mr. Razaq's file and felt that the youth could have been swayed by emotions to issue such a threat without meaning any harm. Mr. Razaq was well-educated and had no past record of crime.

Mr. Modi invited Mr. Razaq's parents, grand parents and other family members from Mumbai to his official residence here today and informed them about his decision to ask the police to withdraw the case and allow Mr. Razaq to return to normal life. He also promised to get back his job.

Mr. Razaq told the media that he was carried away by the communal riots in Gujarat and hence issued the threat. ``I have realised my mistake and I am grateful to Mr. Modi for sparing me.''

Mr. Modi said he had decided about withdrawing the case much earlier but preferred to wait till the election was over, lest it would have been given a political twist.

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