The terror email sent by operatives of banned terror outfit Indian Mujahideen claiming responsibility for Tuesday’s blast in Varanasi was sent by hacking the Airtel Wi-Fi connection of a major telecom firm executive from Vashi in Navi Mumbai. The police gave the executive a clean chit, stating that the email could have been sent by IM operatives who were part of a media wing of the outfit that was busted in 2008.
The Wi-Fi connection is registered in the name of Mithilesh Talreja (32), a resident of Mansarovar building in Sector 17 in Vashi. “Mithilesh is a business development executive with a major telecom firm and lives with his brother Akhil, a disk jockey. Their father runs a gift shop in Inorbit Mall in Vashi,” said a senior crime branch officer.
According to the officer, the email was sent at 6.56 pm on Tuesday, roughly 20 minutes after the blast took place.
“We traced the email at 9.15 pm to the IP address belonging to the desktop computer and called the Talreja brothers in for questioning. They are just victims and have no connection with the blasts,” he said.
Speaking to this newspaper, Akhil said that even though his Wi-Fi connection was a secure one, the terrorists had managed to crack his password. “I have been living in the building for 20 years. We had secured our connection with a password, but they must have managed to crack it. We appeal to everyone to secure their Wi-Fi connections so that they are not misused,” he said.
“We suspect that the members of the module who are still on the loose are responsible for sending the email, as they had done a recce in Navi Mumbai in 2008 seeking insecure Wi-Fi connections. The founder members of IM — Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal — are the masterminds who are presently hiding in Pakistan,” said Sanjeev Dayal, Mumbai police commissioner.
Mr Dayal said that they have declared a red alert in the city. “We will be conducting nakabandis at various places in the city and security will be enhanced at important installations. Thsi will continue for some days,” he said.