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U.S. national Ken Haywood leaves India

MUMBAI: American national Kenneth Haywood, 44, left the country on Monday morning, according to the Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS). However, the ATS does not know if his wife and daughter are accompanying him.

Haywood was a suspect in the Ahmedabad blasts case. For, a threatening e-mail was sent on the day of the blasts from his Internet Protocol address. About 412 MB of data was downloaded from Haywood’s computer while he was working on it between 1 p.m. and 8 p.m.

ATS chief Hemant Karkare confirmed that Haywood had left for the U.S. Mr. Karkare told reporters late on Monday that he left from New Delhi. The Delhi police and immigration officials would be contacted to find out how he had left.

A look-out notice was issued in his name on July 30. However, his passport was not impounded as the police needed proof of his involvement in a case to do so, Mr. Karkare said.

The results of the polygraph tests, which Haywood was subjected to, came on Monday and his name was cleared, said Mr. Karkare. It shows that he was not the person who sent the email on the day of the blasts. The ATS chief said Haywood was not a suspect anymore. However, he was called for questioning by the ATS on Sunday and Monday in connection with his allegation that a policeman was asking for a bribe to clear his name.

Earlier, Parambir Singh, Additional Commissioner, ATS, Mumbai, told reporters that Haywood could not leave the country without permission, as he was required to be available for investigation.

Besides the polygraph and brain-mapping tests Haywood underwent recently, technical experts at the Kalina forensic laboratory are in the process of analysing the hard disks of three of his computers.

There was speculation that his computers were hacked, but preliminary forensic analysis showed little likelihood of hacking.

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