Mail and mayhem

A series of bombs have gone off on the ground causing heavy casualties, but the mindgames are on in cyberspace 

NEW DELHI: Four emails. Three of them precisely timed to reach media houses minutes before serial blasts in various cities.

Two of them written in syntax almost alien to Indian English writers. Littered with abuses, dripping with anger and frustration. Emails marked to IDs that show close familiarity of the writer with the Indian media scene. And the writer(s) alarmingly close understanding of almost daily developments in several states.

The Internet has become a messenger of terror, as mails mocking the security agencies precede serial blasts with unfailing impunity.

There have been four emails from the Indian Mujahideen till date — three immediately followed by serial blasts. One came a few days after Gujarat police claimed it has arrested the masterminds of the Ahmedabad serial blasts, virtually rubbishing their claim.
The first mail was on November 23, 2007, at 1.18 pm, around the time a series of bombs was going off in the premises  of courts in Varanasi, Faizabad and Lucknow. It came from Guru Alhindi, registered with Yahoo France. The first email from the Indian Mujahideen is also the odd one out, for its English lacks the flair of the other three, it is a word document and it does not carry the by-now-standard symbols and designs of the last two mails.

The latest mail, received on Saturday just as bombs were going off in Delhi, do not seem to recognise at least one of the four emails, all of which credibly can be linked to the same entity. The email says: “The INDIAN MUJAHIDEEN accepts the sole responsibility of Delhi serial blasts, and we claim this, through our third consecutive email, which is, unfortunately, still a mystery for you. It is very sad to see the bad condition of your cyber forensics who have still failed to find out our technique of sending the ‘Message of Death’.”

However, the first mail provides deep insights into this faceless entity called Indian Mujahideen, which intelligence agencies and state police seem to believe is another name for the Safdar Nagori-faction that split from SIMI and which believes in violent jehad. However, there are several indicators to question this assumption of the investigators.

The first email just before the UP court blast had claimed it carried out the serial blasts in Delhi in 2005, Varanasi blasts of March 2006, Mumbai local train blasts of July 2006, and blasts in Hyderabad’s Gokul Chaat and Lumbini Park. But the group also said it was not behind the blasts in Malegaon mosque, Mecca Masjid of Hyderabad and Samjhauta Express.

The email, in unimpressive English, says the group is “not any foreign mujahideen nor even we have any attachment with neighbouring countries agency like ISI, LET, HUJI etc. We know only that much as much media has knowledge about them. We are purely Indian”.

Again, minutes before Jaipur’s peace was to be shattered, the second mail landed in media houses. This time too the mail wasn’t fanciful as the third and fourth mail. But it mocked police claims on earlier blasts and claimed that “now the Indian Mujahideen were not in an organised form but by the help of Allah, subhanawa taala, we have succeeded in establishing a real force to attack the polytheist.”

It also mentioned the formation of three brigades: Shahbuddin Gouri for southern India, Mahmood Ghaznvi and Shaheed Al-Zarqawi.

All emails from Jaipur onwards have been signed by Guru Al Hindi or Al-Arabi, with a pen. The Jaipur document only runs into six pages, and that too in noticeably different English from the last two. The mail immediately before the Ahmedabad blast and the one sent after the Gujarat police claimed to have solved the blasts are neatly produced PDF documents, indicating the group’s increasing confidence rather than betraying any signs of panic.

For investigators, the scorn must be the most worrying sign. And in a great show of boldness, for the first time they also attached a video ahead of the blasts with the email.
Maharashtra and Gujarat remain the central themes of the last two emails.

All the emails however seem to convey that their targets include major cities and Hindutva leaders such as Narendra Modi, Praveen Togadia and Babu Bajrangi. But the emails increasingly rant about several police officers, noticeably ignoring names of pro-Hindutva leaders.

The Delhi email also explicitly sympathises with the Kashmiri cause, an issue not been so vocally raised in past emails. Saturday’s email also makes an explicit demand that the Babri land be vacated.

But that isn’t all. A startling fact has emerged from the mail — the writer(s) seems to be well versed with the Indian media scene. They have even marked a copy to the secretary of a leading editor who is not known to be tech savvy, and seems to be carrying out a daily analysis of major Indian newspapers and news channels.

The growing boldness of the emails are in complete contrast to the claims of police and intelligence agencies that they have been able to crack the domestic terror group.
In a mail sent rubbishing Gujarat police’s claims of solving the Ahmedabad blasts, there was a chilling indicator that Delhi was the next target:

“We openly intimidate you of our new attacks about to hit you very soon and shatter all the fabricated lies that you have forged about ‘busting the terror module behind the Ahmedabad bomb blasts’. O you cowardly bastards of ATS Gujarat, ATS Mumbai, ACB, Gujarat Police and fools the like thereof! You are the most foolish enemies the Mujahideen of Islam have ever fought against! Look! We are directly challenging you that Insha Allah we will carry out our next attacks right under your ‘close vigil’, your ‘critical surveillance’ and yes, of course, in presence of all those confidential reports that you receive from your secret sources of the IB — the ‘Ignorance Bureau’.”

Does the Delhi email contain any indications of where the terrorists could strike next? The mail talks about Mumbai as a potential target, but it also warns of Rajasthan and Gujarat. For investigators, the failure to track the cyber trail is just an embarrassment. But for ordinary citizens, these are chilling forewarnings of death and destruction lurking in unexpected quarters.

j_josy@dnaindia.net