Terror mail traced to Navi Mumbai's flat

The terror e-mail sent to many media representatives minutes before the serial blasts has been spotted out by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) to a residential flat in the Sanpada area in the Navi Mumbai.

The ATS team, on Sunday, led by Hemant Kankare, reached Gunani Cooperative Housing Society in the posh Sector 16 area of Palm Beach road and raided the house.

•   E-mail Article
•   Printer Friendly
•   Text-Size    

The flat which is on the 15th floor shelters an American family and has been rented it to them by Abhishek Sharma, the owner of the house, for over six months.

Although the family has claimed that the threat mail is not sent from their computer and that their i.d. might have been hacked into, the police have seized the P.C., hard disc and other materials. They even said that the mail may have been sent from a mobile phone.

The flat has been sealed by the ATS denying admittance to media within the premises. Even the gates of the housing society remained shut to outsiders throughout Sunday. Even though the investigations are in their full force, ATS refused to give any comment on the issue.

The Indian Mujahideen group, that claimed responsibility for the blasts in the e-mail, previously sent a threat e-mail in the same fashion before Jaipur blasts as well. The Union Home Ministry has said that the group needs to be probed further to defile any further activities.

The terror mail insinuated that the blasts were being carried out in revenge for the killing of hundreds of Muslims by Hindu mobs in 2002. The 14-page email said: "In the name of Allah, the Indian Mujahideen strike again! Do whatever you can, within 5 minutes from now, feel the terror of death!”

In addition to the claim of the blasts, the mail includes stern threats for Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Deputy Chief Minister R.R. Patil and business tycoon Mukesh Ambani.

Indian media believes the organisation to be a coalition of three well-known militant groups – the Students Islamic Movement of India (Simi), the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Harkat ul-Jihad-al-Islami – though there is no independent confirmation of the fact.