Preliminary investigations have indicated that the second email by the Indian Mujahideen on Thursday was sent through a proxy server located in Moscow. The identity of the sender has not been established.
The digits in the code, when converted to corresponding English alphabet reveal the name of Ahmedabad, though wrongly spelt as “Ahemdabad” in the cipher. “It was an unusually easy code to crack, if it indeed has been sent by a terror outfit. The email can be a hoax, sent in order to mislead investigations. However, we are not taking chances,” said an officer.
The sender identified himself as Ali Saed El-Hoorie, resembling the name of a notorious terrorist, Ali Saed Bin Ali El-Hoorie from Saudi Arabia wanted by the United States.
The first purported IM email sent on Thursday afternoon from Internet account chotoominani5@gmail.com was traced to a place in West Bengal. The email countered the claim by Harkat-ul-Jihadi that it had carried out the Wednesday's blast in the Delhi High Court complex. Owning up responsibility, the sender, identifying himself as IM member Chotoo Minani Ayushman, had threatened to strike at a shopping complex on September 13.
Interestingly, another threat from the same email account surfaced on Friday, claiming that the previous two IM emails were authentic. Addressing journalists, the mail said: “IM has carried out this blast in a well thought-out way. The NIA and the Delhi Police will never know from where these emails are being generated. It is an impossible task for them. Now, we are planning to trigger a blast at a crowded place in Ahmedabad. Our modus operandi of carrying out the explosion would be very distinct, so that the police will find it difficult to detect…” said the mail.
The first email received by electronic media groups threatened “to target the Supreme Court of India and other major High Courts if Afzal Guru's death sentence in 2001 Parliament attack case is not repealed.” It was traced to a computer installed at Global Cyber Caf? at Kishtwar in Jammu and Kashmir, following which a person has been detained there for questioning.
3 special squads set up
Police Commissioner B.K. Gupta said three special squads headed by Deputy Commissioners of Police Ashok Chand, under whose leadership the Special Cell had busted several terror modules in the past, and Arun Kampani and Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Ravi Shanker were set up.
Assistant Commissioners of Police Sanjeev Yadav and Bhishm Singh are also part of the 250-member team. Several officers in the team, which is investigating the two Delhi High Court blasts — the previous one occurred on May 25 — in coordination with the National Investigation Agency, apart from the unsolved blasts in the past two years, have a vast experience in conducting counter-terror operations.
