The Hindu : Front Page : e-mail authors identified, claim Rajasthan police

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 03, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Front Page

Front Page

e-mail authors identified, claim Rajasthan police

Mohammed Iqbal

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan police on Tuesday claimed that the terror e-mail sent by the Indian Mujahideen to media houses a day after the May 13 serial blasts in Jaipur was authored by Abu Bashir and Tauqeer alias Abdul Subhan — allegedly involved in the Ahmedabad blasts as well — and was sent under the supervision of the prime suspect, Shahbaz Hussain.

While Abu Bashir, a madrasa teacher, was arrested by the Gujarat police at his native village in Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh, Tauqeer — a Mumbai-based computer professional — is reportedly absconding. Shahbaz Hussain, arrested from Lucknow on August 23, is in the custody of the Rajasthan police.

Additional Director-General of Police A.K. Jain said at a press conference here that the man who sent the e-mail from a cyber café in Sahibabad was yet to be identified. The e-mail claimed responsibility on behalf of the Indian Mujahideen, a hitherto unknown group, for the Jaipur blasts that claimed 68 lives.

Mr. Jain said the conspiracy behind the blasts was unearthed following the interrogation of Shahbaz. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) would seek extension of his police remand, due to expire on September 5.

Asked whether Abu Bashir was proficient enough in English to write the e-mail message, Mr. Jain said the madrasa teacher provided “religious contents” to the draft, while Tauqeer finalised it and wrote the e-mail in impeccable English. “Shahbaz had full knowledge of the blasts as well as the e-mail and he supervised the entire operation.”

The Additional DGP said four more persons were arrested from Kota on charges of taking part in the activities of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). The accused, identified as Munawwar Hussain, Atiq-ur-Rehman, Nadeem Akhtar and Mohammed Ilyas, have been remanded to police custody for 11 days.

Mr. Jain admitted that there was no direct evidence against the four accused and against the seven held earlier from Kota to implicate them in the conspiracy for the Jaipur terror attack, but he affirmed that the Kota region had emerged as a nerve-centre of SIMI’s activities in the State. SIMI organised a training camp at the Nanta dargah near Kota in January this year, he added.

Muslim groups in the State denounced the attempts of the police to “mix up” the cases of detainees from Kota under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, and the one against Shahbaz and others in connection with the Jaipur blasts. They said the police were trying to hoodwink the public by dragging SIMI into their investigation.

Rajasthan Muslim Forum’s member and Jamat-e-Islami Hind president Mohammed Salim said the SIT’s claim of having identified the authors of terror e-mail defied logic as one of the accused, educated as a cleric in Daul Uloom Deoband, had not even preliminary knowledge of computers and the other’s credentials as a SIMI member were yet to be confirmed.

“Mr. Jain and his team are out to prove the case by any means against SIMI. This flawed approach has derailed the probe from fair and impartial lines and deflected attention from non-Muslim radical outfits. The recent incident when two Bajrang Dal activists were blown apart while making bombs in Kanpur is a case in point,” said Mr. Salim.

The Muslim Forum regretted that the SIT had failed to prevent U.S. national Ken Haywood — whose computer was traced as the originating point of the e-mail for the Ahmedabad blasts — from leaving the country.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page