MUMBAI: An alleged Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative was today arrested in connection with a 2010 case related to sending an email to a media house on behalf of the banned outfit warning about terror strikes in New Delhi.
Ajaz Sheikh, who is in jail for his suspected role in the July 2011 Mumbai bomb blasts, was placed under arrest in the 2010 case by Crime Branch, police said.
The 30-year-old, who once worked in a BPO and is considered tech savvy, was produced before a court which remanded him in Crime Branch custody till February 13, said Deputy Commissioner of Police Dhananjay Kulkarni.
Crime Branch had registered a case on October 10, 2010 against unidentified persons for sending an email to United Kingdom-based BBC news channel warning that IM would carry out terror strikes in the national capital, police said.
Investigation suggested that the mail was sent from South Mumbai and accordingly an FIR was registered by Cyber Cell. Police zeroed in on Sheikh, who allegedly sent the email using his mobile phone.
Sheikh, a Pune resident, is the brother-in-law of top IM functionary Mohsin Chaudhary, police said.
Police sources said after the Batla House encounter of 2008, when IM operatives were being arrested from various States in a pan-India crackdown, Chaudhary and other top members of the terror outfit, including Bhatkal brothers (Riyaz and Iqbal), who were also on the run, asked Sheikh to stay back in India.
The IM wanted Sheikh, who had not been unexposed to other contacts of the organisation, to stay here so that he could be used for some important assignments, they said.
Sheikh was advised to master the use of computers and get tech-savvy. Already armed with a diploma in hardware networking, he upgraded his knowledge in information technology and simultaneously worked at a Pune BPO, they said.
He was apprehended by Special Cell of Delhi Police from Uttar Pradesh September last year.
Sheikh's custody was taken by Maharashtra ATS in December last year in connection with the July 2011 serial explosions in Zaveri Bazar, Opera House and Kabutar Khana in which at least 21 people were killed.