A Case For Fools? A 'foolproof ' case against a man sending threat by email in Shillong rests only on his confessions in police custody, writes TERESA REHMAN With blaring music playing in the backdrop it's business as usual at Ark Cyber Café on the first floor at Howell Road in Laban. Two teenagers are sitting at a terminal and looking at some WWF boxer's photographs. The other terminals separated by wooden cubicles are empty this afternoon. Last week, this cyber cafe was under scrutiny as, supposedly, it is the place from where the email purportedly issued by Indian Mujahideen (IM) threatening to assassinate BJP leader LK Advani during his 29 September visit to Shillong was sent. As this correspondent sat in one of the terminals, the young man at the counter brought a new register and was asked to write details like name, address and phone number. Incidentally, the entries on the register begin on 25 September. He said, " We were made to enter their personal details after the incident when the police swooped on our cyber café as
allegedly the email threat was sent from here." He had no clue, however, how the police could manage to decipher that it was from this café that the email was sent.. But he said, "Earlier I used to simply give the users a slip with the timings. But now I am not going to take chances." He said that the person who had allegedly sent the email threat used to frequent their café. "He was a regular here. He is not one of our lifetime members but he used to come here almost every day. The lifetime members have to pay only half of the usual surfing costs. However, the state police claims it has seized a register from the cyber café which lists the names of people using it. Shillong witnessed unprecedented security cover with the National Security Guards taking over after the email threat reached a few newspaper offices. A young law student Mominul Haque of Laban area in the city was arrested and has reportedly "confessed to the police" to having written the e-mail which was sent to two local dailies on Wednesday night. Haque has been booked under Laban PS Case no: 90 (9) 08 under section 120 B/ 120 (1)/ 153 (B)/ 506. He has been booked under the IPC although there is the Meghalaya Preventive and Detention Act (MPDA) to deal with the militants. The state police reportedly traced the email to the cyber café through its IP address. "We traced the email to a BSNL line. The BSNL has a cell in Bangalore to track such details. They traced the number to that particular cyber café in Shillong," S.B. Singh, IGP (special branch), Meghalaya police told TEHELKA. He informed that the accused has confessed before the police. Though he was produced before the magistrate, it is the prerogative of the accused to confess or choose not to. Singh adds, "We have a foolproof case against him. The cyber café owner and the three other detainees present in the café identified the accused as the one sitting in that terminal in that particular time of the day. But the accused is quite a novice unlike the professional terrorists who hack into wifi systems like it was done in Mumbai recently. But we are yet to establish his links with any jehadi element. We are aware that this demands a sensitive approach" However, the lawyer of the accused Noor Mohammad Mansuri said, "His bail plea was rejected though I had pleaded that there weren't enough grounds to hold him. My client has been remanded for 14 days. Any kind of confession in police custody might as well have been due to coercion. Now that Advani's rally has passed off peacefully, I will file a bail petition again. And if it's rejected, I will approach the sessions court. I know my client is innocent." Mansuri adds that the email was sent in someone else's name. "The e-mail was issued in the name of IM's self-styled 'North East Field Commander' Ali Hussain Badr. It will be difficult to prove that it was sent by my client." He informed that his client's passport was seized along with religious CDs, religious books and newspaper cuttings on atrocities on minorities. "But that does not prove that he has links with the Jehadi groups. My client has just been framed," adds Mansuri. He agreed that his client had used his passport and has been to Dubai, Bahrain and Bangladesh. Haque has his sister in Dubai and relatives in Bangladesh. That these have been trips have been made on personal reasons, Mansuri claims he can verify. Interestingly, Mansuri points out that Haque's landlady, a local Khasi has been very supportive. She has barred the entry of media persons to her house, warning that trespassers will be prosecuted. The local media, too, has been remarkably restrained in its reporting on the issue. Tilak Rai, executive member of the Shillong Press Club told TEHELKA, "We would not want to pass a judgement at this stage. The investigative agencies are doing their job. I think the media in Shillong has pursued the issue with the maturity and sensitivity it deserves." Whether the email was genuine or just a hoax, it did manage to shake up the entire police department in the state.. Is the young man being framed or is it just a case of an adventurous radical mind gone wrong. Does the young man really have links with jehadi outfits? These are questions the police will need time to find answers to. Whatever may be the truth, the dream of this young man to become an army officer has certainly received a setback. |
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