The National Investigation Agency (NIA) team has taken into its possession two cellphones recovered from alleged Indian Mujahideen chief Tehseen Akhtar in connection with the Antilia Bomb scare case. Tehseen Akhtar is currently lodged in Tihar Jail. Reportedly, while Akhtar has accepted that the phones belonged to him, he denied sending the messages using the Telegram app. Some messages with terror outfit Jaish-ul-Hind claiming responsibility for the explosives found in an SUV parked outside Mukesh Ambani’s house were sent using the phone over the Telegram app.
The NIA collected the phones from the Delhi Police Special Cell office last week. According to an Indian Express report, the NIA is looking into evidence against a senior Mumbai Police officer and will subsequently seek permission for his arrest.
The phones were found with Akhtar during a search operation by Tihar Jail authorities along with the Delhi Police Special Cell on March 11. The police officers, however, failed to identify anyone who could have provided him with the phone.
During questioning, Akhtar had reportedly claimed that the phones were also being used by six other prison inmates, including a member of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).
The NIA has so far arrested several Mumbai police officers in the case including Assistant Inspector Sachin Waze, Assistant Inspector Riyaz Kazi, Inspector Sunil Mane, and constable Vinayak Shinde. The Mumbai police have already dismissed all of them. A retired ACP and ‘encounter specialist’ Pradeep Sharma was also arrested in the case. Apart from these officers, history-sheeter Santosh Shelar, his aide Anand Jadhav, bookie Naresh Gaur as well as Manish Soni and Satish Mothkuri who are associates of Pradeep Sharma were also arrested.
The SUV belonged to a businessman Mansukh Hiren who was murdered allegedly on the instructions of Vaze.