NEW DELHI, Mar 11: The Telegram channel through which an organisation named “Jaish-ul-Hind” had claimed responsibility for placing an abandoned explosives-laden vehicle near “Antilia,” the residence of top industrialist Mukesh Ambani in Mumbai, was “created in the Tihar” area of Delhi, a senior Mumbai police official said on Thursday.
The Delhi Police has been informed about it, he added.
The police took the help of a private cyber agency to track the location of the phone on which the Telegram channel was created, the official said.
During the investigation, the location of the phone was traced near Delhi’s Tihar Jail, he added.
A Mahindra Scorpio car with gelatin sticks was found parked near “Antilia”, the multi-storey residence of Ambani, in south Mumbai on February 25.
According to police sources, the Telegram channel was created on February 26 and the message claiming responsibility for placing the vehicle outside Ambani’s residence was posted on the Telegram messaging app late in the night on February 27.
The message had also demanded payment in cryptocurrency and mentioned a link to deposit the same.
During the probe, the link was found as “not available”, due to which the investigators suspected it to be mischievous, the official said.
On February 28, another message from Jaish-ul-Hind surfaced on a social media platform, claiming that the organisation did not have any role in the incident.
The investigation in the case was initially conducted by the Crime Branch of the Mumbai police.
After the mysterious death of Thane-based auto parts dealer Mansukh Hiran, who owned the vehicle which was stolen about 10 days before it was found parked near “Antilia” laden with explosives, the probe was transferred to the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). However, on Monday, the centre handed over the investigation to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) after some allegations were leveled against some personnel of the Maharashtra ATS.
(Manas Dasgupta)
