A mobile phone has been seized from the barrack of Indian Mujahideen terrorist Tehseen Akhtar alias Monu in the high-security Tihar Jail by the Delhi Police Special Cell. Initial investigation hinted that five people other than Tehseen have used the phone to operate a Telegram channel and it is suspected that this mobile phone was used to claim the responsibility for terror acts or threats including for placing an explosives-laden SUV near Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani’s residence in Mumbai last month and blast outside the Israeli embassy in the national capital.
These suspects have created a Telegram Channel named Jaish-ul-Hind, the Special Cell of Delhi Police said, adding that a probe is underway to trace the further links. A cyber agency helped to locate the phone on which the Telegram channel was created and it was traced near Tihar jail in Delhi.
The Tihar jail authorities searched for the sub-jail number 8 on Thursday and recovered a mobile and sim card. The Telegram channel, Jaish-ul-Hind, was created on this phone.
"Based on the information provided by the Special Cell, Tihar Jail authorities have seized a mobile phone from a jail where certain terror convicts are lodged. It is suspected that this phone has been used for operating Telegram channels used recently for claiming responsibility for terror acts/ threats," said Pramod Singh Kushwah, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell).
Earlier on February 25, a Scorpio SUV car with 20 gelatin sticks was found parked near Antilia, the multi-storey residence of Mukesh Ambani in Mumbai and Police said that a Telegram channel was created on February 26 and the message claiming responsibility for the incident was posted on the Telegram on February 27.
Tehseen Akhtar was arrested in 2014, is the brain behind the series of explosions including in Patna that left six dead in 2013. A computer-savvy quick-change artist, he was on the radar of investigators in connection with other terror attacks across India. Tehseen, considered to be close to Yasin Bhatkal, the man who co-founded Indian Mujahideen, is originally from a village in Bihar's Samastipur; he is also linked to the serial blasts in Hyderabad and Bodh Gaya.
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The message had also demanded payment in cryptocurrency and mentioned a link to deposit the same.
The investigation in the Antilla bomb case was originally handled by the Crime Branch of the Mumbai police. But after the mysterious death of the Thane-based auto parts dealer Mansukh Hiran, who was the owner of the SUV that was later found parked outside Mr Ambani's residence, the probe was transferred to Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).
However, on Monday, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the case related to the recovery of the explosives-laden vehicle.