Date:07/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/07/stories/2008080754901200.htm

National

Gujarat police team in Mumbai on e-mail trail

Staff Reporter

Mumbai: The Mumbai police will be assisted by a team from the Gujarat Crime Branch which arrived here on Wednesday to investigate the source of the e-mail sent just before the Ahmedabad blasts.

Usha Rada, Assistant Commissioner, Gujarat Crime Branch, told The Hindu that the team would exclusively look into the e-mail issue over the next few days. There were no leads so far, she admitted.

Visits cyber cell

The team visited the cyber cell on Wednesday. It was likely to interview Kenneth Haywood, to whose Internet Protocol (IP) address the e-mail sent before the Ahmedabad blasts was traced. It would also examine the 10 computers, three seized from Mr. Haywood’s house and the remaining from apartments in the vicinity.

The Gujarat Crime Branch had written to the ATS here seeking its help in the investigations. The ATS, incidentally, has sought the help of private experts.

The Forensic Science Laboratory, Maharashtra, is upgrading its know-how on wireless routers and their functions from Purdue University, the U.S., according to the laboratory’s director Rukmini Krishnamurthy.

“We are having some technical talks with the experts,” she said. “But it has nothing to do with the case.”

The forensic reports on the computers seized are still to reach the ATS office. Additional Commissioner, ATS, Mumbai, Parambir Singh, said that the computers seized from Mr. Haywood’s residence were connected through a wireless network using the same router.