One held for email threat to Wankhede

Rajesh Bhaskar Dave, a 40-year-old railway ticketing agent from Worli was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Friday for sending the email threatening to blow up Wankhede stadium on the day of the World Cup final. Dave told police he had sent the email for fun.

Rajesh Bhaskar Dave, a 40-year-old railway ticketing agent from Worli was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Friday for sending the email threatening to blow up Wankhede stadium on the day of the World Cup final. Dave told police he had sent the email for fun.

HT Image

On Tuesday, HT reported that the Mumbai police received a threat email after which 40 National Security Guards snipers were deployed at the stadium. Dave’s email had said, “Wankhede ground aur stadium mein 30 plastic bomb lagaya gaya hain, jisko satellite se blast kiya jaayega. Bacha sako to bachalo. Pakistan Zindabad. LeT. (30 bombs have been planted inside Wankhede ground and stadium, which will be triggered via satellite... )”

As soon as the email was received, additional reinforcements and bomb detection and disposal squads were deployed to clear the stadium.

The ATS recovered four mobile phones and one SIM card that Dave had procured from Nashik using fake documents. ATS chief Rakesh Maria said, “He had procured the SIM card using fake documents about 10 months ago. But, he had not used the SIM card to make or receive calls which made us suspicious.”

The technical wing of the ATS said Dave had used the SIM card to send the email using a server in Norway as proxy. Maria refused to divulge any details on the email account used or technicalities involved to trace the email.