Varanasi:
Exactly 31 minutes after the blast at Varanasi killed a baby girl, an email from terror group Indian Mujahideen (IM) was sent to several media organisations, claiming responsibility for the explosion. (
Also read: Varanasi blast - Mayawati, Centre trade blame)
The email has been traced to Navi Mumbai - the Mujahideen hacked into an unsecured Wi-Fi connection registered in the name of a DJ, Akhil Talreja, who was released after questioning by the police. The email was composed on December 6 - a day before the blast. It says, ''Indian Mujahideen attribute this attack to December 6... the loss of their beloved Babri Masjid.''
Police sources believe that the Indian Mujahideen group that carried out this blast was also responsible for the car blast near Delhi's Jama Masjid three months ago. The police believes the team was groomed in UP's Azamgarh. ''No one has been detained so far. The inquiry is on," said Maharashtra's Home Minister, RR Patil. (
Read: Varanasi blast: Indian Mujahideen email)
In the last two years, the IM has sent emails after three terror attacks: the serial blasts in Ahmedabad in July 2008 followed by the serial blasts in Delhi in September that year, and then after the Jama Masjid attack earlier this year.
In each of those cases, the emails were traced to an area around Mumbai.
But in those cases, the IM sent its mail within minutes of the attack. This time, there was a half-hour delay.
In October 2008, it was the emails sent by the IM that led to a huge breakthrough for the state. 20 men in different leadership positions within the terror group were arrested, many of them software professionals. That left the IM rudderless and the police believes the Varanasi blast is a tactic aimed at conveying that the organisation still has the ability to strike.