Email suspects still under scanner

Mateen Hafeez I TNN
Mumbai: The eight Indian suspects who have been questioned and subjected to polygraph tests and brainmapping in the terror email case are yet to be given a clean chit.

“Our investigation is not over yet. Till the time we are sure that the suspects are not involved, they will remain in the zone of suspicion,’’ said Param Bir Singh, additional commissioner of police, anti-terrorism squad (ATS).

US national Ken Haywood, the ninth suspect whose Internet Protocol address was used to send the email, left the country a few days ago under mysterious circumstances.

While the police and the forensic laboratory authorities failed to trace the origin of the mail, the ATS decided to subject the suspects to forensic tests. Those subjected to the tests included a chief executive officer of an MNC, a software engineer, a telecom company employee, a marketing executive and a 35-year-old commerce graduate who had worked with a company in Libya for over three years.

While Haywood gave the police and the immigration authorities the slip despite a look-out notice issued against him at airports across the country, the ATS said the polygraph and brain-mapping reports of all nine suspects were negative.

The police said the sender(s) of the five emails forwarded to TV channels before the Faizabad court blasts, after the Jaipur terror strikes and the Ahmedabad explosions could be from the same group. Investigators insisted that the latest Indian Mujahideen email in which the IP address of Khalsa College was traced seemed to be similar to the earlier emails. “We find some similarities and suspect that the job is the handiwork of the same person/group,’’ added Singh.

The ATS said there would be no restrictions on their movement. “We are still watching their activities and cannot say much until we arrive at a conclusion,’’ said an ATS officer.

The nine suspects, including Haywood, were listed for forensic tests after the ATS grilled more than1,000 people. More than 10 computers were examined to find out if they were used to send the terror mail

The Times of India, August 28, 2008