Date:07/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/07/stories/2008100760541000.htm

New Delhi

IM’s media cell busted

Rahi Gaikwad

Mumbai: Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria said on Monday that the Indian Mujahideen’s media wing was responsible for the e-mails before blasts.

With the arrest of three persons, two of them engineers, in connection with sending the threatening e-mails, he claimed to have busted the media cell of the terror group suspected to be behind a string of bomb blasts since 2005.

Peerbhoy, Salman and Asif allegedly sent the three terror e-mails, which were traced to Navi Mumbai and Mumbai. According to Mr. Maria, they met on five occasions to do a recce of wi-fi connections in Sion, Sanpada and Chembur in and around the city.

On September 26, they left Pune in a blue vehicle bearing the number MH12CA4493. Driver Sayed drove them. They came to Sanpada in Navi Mumbai and sent the first mail at 1840 hrs, before the Ahmedabad blasts, as per the instructions given to them.

In the second e-mail traced to Khalsa College, Matunga, Mumbai, they had received no specific instructions on date and time. This mail was sent to deride the authorities and put them off track, Mr. Maria said.

The third e-mail was sent on September 13 before the Delhi blasts. The three suspects and the driver are from Pune, he said. All the mail suspects were techno-savvy. They were educated and worked in reputed companies. As for the content of the e-mails, he said the police have seized some books from where some extracts were taken. Joint Commissioner of Police ATS Hemant Karkare said the content could have come from the alleged top IM member, Riaz Bhatkal, who is still at large. “It looks like a cut-and-paste job from websites,” he said.