Ambani bomb scare: Cops reach Tihar Jail to question terror convict on mobile phone recovery

PTI, Mar 13, 2021, 3:31 PM IST

New Delhi:  A team of the Delhi Police’s Special Cell on Saturday reached Tihar Jail to question Tehseen Akhtar, who was arrested in 2014 when he was heading proscribed terror group Indian Mujahideen, in connection with the recovery of a mobile phone from his barrack, officials said.

The mobile phone, according to police, is suspected to have been used for creating a Telegram channel that was used by a group named Jaish-ul-Hind for claiming responsibility for parking an SUV with gelatin sticks outside industrialist Mukesh Ambani”s south Mumbai home, ”Antilia”, on February 25.

A Special Cell team is currently in Tihar Jail to question Akhtar in connection with the recovery of the phone from his barrack in Central Jail No. 8, a senior police officer said.

“We have taken permission from the court to question him and based on that, we may question other inmates if needed,” he said.

The Special Cell had approached the Tihar Jail administration on Thursday in connection with the Ambani bomb scare case after the new angle emerged.

On Thursday, a senior Mumbai Police officer had said the Telegram channel through which Jaish-ul-Hind had claimed responsibility for parking the explosives-laden SUV outside Ambani’s residence was “created in the Tihar” area of Delhi.

The Mumbai Police took the help of a private cyber agency to track the location of the phone on which the Telegram channel was created. During the investigation, the location of the phone was traced near Delhi”s Tihar Jail, the officer had said.

The Delhi government has sought a report from the director general of prisons regarding the recovery of the mobile phone from Tihar Jail.