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Polygraph tests for 10

Staff Reporter

MUMBAI: The Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has subjected around 10 to 11 suspects for polygraph and brain mapping tests. Kenneth Haywood, the American whose Internet Protocol address was used to send a terror e-mail on the day of the Ahmedabad blasts was one of them. There is a likelihood that some members from the banned outfit Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) were among those who tested.

These tests will only “aid the investigation and not replace it,” ATS chief Hemant Karkare told reporters on Thursday.

Each test is three to four hours long. Conducted by experts, they comprise an ingenious method of questioning. Questions on name, occupation and the like are interspersed with pointed ones, Mr. Karkare said.

While the tests are the fare of regular police investigations, inconclusive preliminary reports on the hard disks could have prompted the move. The informal reports have not found any traces of the e-mail on the hard disks.

“[The e-mail was sent from the IP address, but] it has not been established that it was sent from Haywood’s computer,” Parambir Singh, Additional Commissioner, ATS told reporters earlier. It is less likely therefore that Haywood’s computers were hacked.

Since the computers are connected through a Wi-Fi network, the ATS had sent 10 laptops and hard disks of Haywood and some of his neighbours for forensic analysis. The reports are still awaited.

Haywood’s three computers were on a single router and the router is being examined at the Kalina Forensic Sciences Laboratory. The laboratory is waiting for some more information on the router from manufacturers, said Dr. Rukmini Krishnamurthy, director of the laboratory.

The laboratory had sought the help of technical experts from Purdue University, U.S. to upgrade its know-how on wireless routers and their functions. Ms. Krishnamurthy said this had nothing to do with the case.

Meanwhile, the range of investigation remains broad-based.

Around 600 members of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) across the country are on the radar. Twenty-five to 30 teams are engaged in this activity.

Inquiries are on in the surrounding cities of Nagpur and Pune. Several accused in car thefts have been rounded up.

The police are also combing the jails as part of their probe. Suspects from previous blasts are also being interrogated.

So far, the ATS has interrogated around 1,000 people from the building where Haywood resides. Feedback from private agencies has been of no help.

The ATS is also tracking a huge volume of international calls.

Mr. Karkare said the ATS had received general terror alerts for Independence Day.

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