Ambani bomb scare: NIA collects telephones seized from jailed IM chief

THE NATIONAL Investigation Agency (NIA) workforce probing the bomb scare exterior industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s Mumbai residence has taken into possession two cellphones recovered from Tehseen Akhtar, the alleged chief of the Indian Mujahideen, who’s lodged in Tihar Jail.
Akhtar has accepted that the 2 Android telephones belong to him, however denied sending the messages shared over the Telegram app on them, which declare duty for the explosives present in an SUV exterior Ambani’s home within the identify of purported terror outfit Jaish-ul-Hind.
The NIA collected the telephones from the Delhi Police Special Cell workplace in Lodhi Colony final week. Highly positioned sources stated the company is trying into proof towards a senior officer of the Mumbai Police, after which permission can be searched for his arrest.
Akhtar is believed to have taken over as head of the IM after the arrest of its co-founder Yasin Bhatkal in 2013, and is likely one of the accused within the Mumbai blasts of 2011. The telephones had been recovered from his barracks throughout a search operation by Tihar Jail authorities together with the New Delhi Range of Delhi Police Special Cell on March 11.
“Police found that the cellphones were being used by him since October. The Tihar Jail administration also conducted an internal inquiry to ascertain how he got the cellphones, but they failed to identify anyone,” a senior jail official stated.

Sources instructed The Indian Express {that a} workforce of the New Delhi Range first questioned Akhtar contained in the jail complicated, and he stated the units have been being utilized by six different jail inmates as nicely, together with a member of the Al-Qaeda within the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS). “Police seized both the cellphones, and sent them for forensic examination, but they did not find anything. Akhtar was later questioned by the NIA as well, and he again denied sending the messages (related to the Ambani bomb scare case),” sources stated.
Earlier, The Indian Express had reported {that a} non-public cyber agency deployed by an investigating company had tracked the placement of the telephones from which the messages have been despatched to Tihar Jail, and this had been communicated to the Delhi Police Special Cell.

Several law enforcement officials have been arrested within the case, together with Assistant Inspector Sachin Waze, Assistant Inspector Riyaz Kazi, Inspector Sunil Mane, suspended constable Vinayak Shine (all 4 since dismissed); and retired ACP and ‘encounter specialist’ Pradeep Sharma. Apart from them, Santosh Shelar, a history-sheeter, his aide Anand Jadhav, Naresh Gaur, a bookie, in addition to Manish Soni and Satish Mothkuri, associates of Pradeep Sharma, are underneath arrest.
The policemen are accused of involvement within the conspiracy to plant explosives close to the Ambani residence in an SUV, and the next homicide of a person linked to the automobile.