A team from the Rajasthan Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) along with the Bhilwara police conducted an inquiry on Monday and spoke to two teenagers who had allegedly created a WhatsApp group titled Lashkar-e-Taiba. According to the officials, a resident of Uttar Pradesh had alerted the police that an invitation to join a group called Lashkar-e-Taiba was sent to another group. Following that, an FIR was lodged in Uttar Pradesh. “So far we have found that two teenage boys, one of whom is a student of class 9 and the other a school dropout, had created the group. One of the boys had bought a second-hand mobile phone and the other juvenile taught him how to use WhatsApp,” said Biju Goerge Joseph, inspector general of police, Rajasthan ATS. He added that around three days back, they created a group and named it Lashkar-e-Taiba. One of the boys sent an invitation to a group, asking people to join the Lashkar-e-Taiba group, said Joseph. He added that the invitation was sent to a WhatsApp group, associated with e-commerce, in which a man named Manoj Gupta was a member. “After seeing the message, Gupta reported the matter to the police. Then we were informed by UP police officials after which we had sent a team to Bhilwara. Preliminary investigation suggests that there is no radical mindset or anti-national intentions behind creating the group,” said Joseph. He added that the boys haven’t been detained so far. “We are also trying to contact the admin of the e-commerce group where the invitation was sent. The admin is a resident of Sri Ganganagar district in Rajasthan and we intend to ask him about the boy who is part of the group,” said Joseph. The police said that an inquiry was being conducted and the officials were speaking to the two boys. “The boys haven’t been detained so far. At this point, it seems that they created the group just for mischief, out of immaturity. They felt that more participants could join the group if it had such a name,” said Rajendra Singh Nen, circle officer, Mandalgarh.
