Officers of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad on Friday arrested a 40-year-old south Mumbai man for allegedly sending a terror email to the police few hours before the cricket World Cup final match on April 2.
Officers of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Friday arrested a 40-year-old south Mumbai man for allegedly sending a terror email to the police few hours before the cricket World Cup final match between India and Sri Lanka on April 2. The police suspect it to be an act of revenge as the man was questioned by the police for suspected links with a cricket betting syndicate few days before the India-Pakistan match.
The arrested person, Rajesh Bhaskar Dave, resides in Mani Bhuvan building at VP Road. Dave has been working as a railway ticket booking agent since the past four years. Dave is Std 12 pass and is computer savvy, the police said.
According to the police, at around 12.52am on April 2, a message was received on the police website in Hindi that read: “Wankhede stadium mein 30 plastic bombs rakhe gaye hain...inhe satellite ke zariye udaya jaayega...bacha sakte ho toh bacha lo...Pakistan Zindabad...LeT” (30 plastic bombs have been planted at Wnkhede stadium, these will be blown up via satellite. Prevent the explosions if you can)
Taking no chances, the police carried out extensive searches, but nothing was found. The ATS officials then initiated investigations, which revealed that a proxy server from Norway had been used to send the message.
“We have traced the person who sent the message and he was arrested on Friday at around 4pm. We have seized three mobile phones, including the one which was used to send the threat message, and a SIM card from Dave,” said additional director general of police and ATS chief, Rakesh Maria.
He added that investigations have revealed that the SIM that was used to send the message was procured from Nashik 10 months ago by providing fake documents. The SIM card is in the name of one Rekha Paresh Sanghvi. “No calls have been made from the card, and it being used by Dave to send only text messages,” Maria said.
Explaining the motive, Maria said, “Although he claims he did it for fun, we have learnt that he was questioned by the VP Road police regarding his suspected links with a cricket betting syndicate few days prior to the India-Pakistan match. He might have sent the message to seek revenge.”
The police are also investigating why Dave procured a SIM card using fake documents. “A stolen mobile phone was also recovered from him. Although that phone was not used to send the message, we are investigating how and from where he got the phone and also whether he is part of any cricket betting syndicate,” said deputy commissioner of police, Pradeep Sawant, adding that Dave has been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act and will be produced before the concerned court on Saturday for police remand.
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