The police also seized eight SIM cards and a diary containing numbers of several senior government officials and politicians.
Officers from the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Sunday arrested one person from Nashik and detained another from Jalgaon in connection with the threat call made to the residence of chief minister Ashok Chavan. The police also seized eight SIM cards and a diary containing numbers of several senior government officials and politicians.
“Abdul Gani Shah, 32, a resident of Nashik, has cases of theft and petrol and diesel adulteration registered against him. He claims to be a police informant. His in-laws stay in Malegaon. It doesn’t look like he is linked with any radical outfit,” said a senior ATS officer requesting anonymity.
According to the police, before calling Chavan’s residence, Shah had called the Deolali police station and threatened to blow up the railway station. “He made the call to the chief minister’s residence from the railway station. He was caught outside Dwarka Hotel in Nashik and was remanded in custody by a local railway court. He will be brought to Mumbai for further investigations,” said ATS chief Rakesh Maria.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai crime branch detained Bhalchandra Yadav, a truck driver from Pachora in Jalgaon, for questioning. “The call has been traced to Yadav’s mobile,” said Himanshu Roy, joint commissioner of police, crime.
“Yadav had used a fake name and address to buy a SIM card on August 31. He was using the card till September 1. The threat call to the chief minister’s residence was made on September 3 from the same number. This means that the card was with Shah at the time. We are examining the link between the two,” a crime branch officer said.
According to the officer, Shah had called a few other Mantralaya officials as well. “Yadav works in Hindustan Chemicals in Goregaon. His job is to deliver the chemicals to Samruddhi Chemicals in Pachora,” he said.
A person, claiming to be member al-Qaeda, had called at Chavan’s official residence on Friday and sought to know his whereabouts.
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