Assam terror SMS sent to Delhi phone as well; 1 held

Less than 48 hours after the serial blasts in Assam, the police claimed to have tracked down the man from whose cellphone an SMS was sent...

Less than 48 hours after the serial blasts in Assam, the police claimed to have tracked down the man from whose cellphone an SMS was sent in the name of an outfit called the Islamic Security Force-Indian Mujahideen ISF-IM, claiming responsibility for Thursday8217;s blasts.

8220;We picked up Nazir Ahmed from Dhing town in Morigaon district,8221; said Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, Assam Police IGP Law 038; Order.

Besides the SMS sent to a local TV channel, police have found several other mobile phone numbers to which Ahmed had sent the SMS claiming responsibility for the blasts across Lower Assam, Mahanta said.

8220;One of the numbers to which he sent the SMS was a Vodafone number in New Delhi,8221; the AGP said, refusing to give any further details. The SMS from the little-known ISF-IM had landed at the input desk of a Guwahati-based television news channel, NewsLive, on Friday afternoon, following which the police began the hunt and tracked down Nazir Ahmed.

Two others to whom he sent the same SMS have also been identified. 8220;The number from which he had sent the SMS was active till about 5:30 p.m. on Friday,8221; Mahanta said.

The police also detained two men in whose names the vehicles used in the blasts8212;a Maruti car in Guwahati and a Bajaj Pulsar in Barpeta Road8212;were registered. Of these, the Maruti owner told the police that he had sold his car to a used car dealer in 2006. The bike owner has produced a copy of an FIR that he had lodged with the police after his bike was stolen earlier this year.

Bangladesh connection: Former Tripura Police director-general G.M. Srivastava, who is currently DG, Home Guards, in Assam, said Thursday8217;s blasts were carried out by some local militant outfit aided and abetted by Islamic fundamentalist groups in Bangladesh.

Story continues below this ad

8220;It is a fact that the name of this group called ISF-IM had cropped up in Assam eight or ten years ago. But at that time we did not take it too seriously,8221; Srivastava said.