Email sent after Delhi firing traced to Mumbai

The email sent out by Indian Mujahideen (IM) two hours after motorcycle-borne gunmen fired at a Taiwanese filmmaking crew outside the Jama Masjid has been traced to Mumbai, the Delhi police said.

The email id, al.arbi999123@gmail.com, the police have found, was created minutes after the attack and sent using a mobile phone. Both the SIM card and the phone were bought using a fake address and name, the police said. The email account was programmed to terminate automatically after seven days, one of the officers probing the case said on condition of anonymity.

The officer said IM operatives Dr Shahnawaz, Abdul Quereshi, Mohsin Choudhary and Yasin are likely suspects. “The signature of Al Arbi in the 2008 emails sent after the Jaipur and New Delhi blasts match with the signature used in the latest email, but it is so only because the signature from the previous email has been copy-pasted.”

The police also revised their version on the attack, saying it could have been a terrorist one. On Sunday they had ruled out any such possibility.

Two suspects currently held by the Special Cell of Delhi police have reportedly already confessed their involvement. One of them has a criminal background.

“The attack seems to be the handiwork of new criminals hired by an external agency. It could have been a terror attack also. The car that went off in flames some hours after the attack had traces of ammonium nitrate, suggesting the presence of a crude bomb,” said a police officer.