Jama Masjid attack: Mumbai Police hunting SIM card user

MUMBAI - Mumbai Police and the Anti-Terrorist Squad are trying to find the person who procured a mobile SIM card — on the basis of forged papers in the name of a woman — that was used by the banned Indian Mujahideen (IM) to send an e-mail claiming responsibility for the Jama Masjid attack in Delhi.

A Tata mobile number was used to send an e-mail to a foreign television network by a person from the IM owning up the terror attacks at the Jama Masjid in which two Taiwanese tourists were injured Sunday.

Police teams rushed to an address in the western suburbs but found no trace of the person from the details given in the forged papers.

Late Monday evening, Delhi Police confirmed that the internet protocol address from which the IM email was sent was traced to a Mumbai computer.

Mumbai Police Crime Branch and the ATS are now jointly working to find out the person who sent the e-mail, but so far there is no progress in the effort.

As in the previous instance, when two years ago the Indian Mujahideen had hacked the unsecured wifi internet connection of an American national, Kenneth Haywood, minutes before the Ahmedabad terror attacks of July 26, 2008, which left 50 dead, investigators apprehend that a similar modus operandi may have been used even this time.

Incidentally, only last month, police had announced plans to check and weed out all mobile phone connections given on the basis of questionable documents.

The issue — including the alleged threat in the IM email to Mumbai King Edward Memorial Hospital — has been treated with extreme seriousness and top government officials were closeted in a meeting Monday night to discuss the ramifications of potential threats.

In Maharashtra, the issue assumes dual significance in view of the Ganesh immersion due Wednesday, followed by the judgment in the Ayodhya case in Lucknow two days later, Friday.