Ashwini Kumar (51) had been nursing a grudge against his friend, Firoz, for two years. In 2023, Firoz had lodged a case against him, and he spent three months in jail.
On Friday, Kumar, an astrologer, set his revenge plan into motion.
He allegedly shot off a message to the official WhatsApp number of the Mumbai Traffic Police — in Firoz’s name — that 34 “human bombs” carrying “400 kg of RDX” have been planted in 34 vehicles for a blast that will “shake the entire city”. The message, which claimed to be from the ‘Lashkar-e-Jihadi’ organisation, also said that 14 Pakistani terrorists have entered India.
in the early hours of Saturday, Kumar was arrested in Noida by the Mumbai Police for allegedly sending the message threatening to blow up the city.
According to police, the accused originally hails from Patliputra colony of Patna. “The accused,” police said, “has been living in Noida’s Sector 79 since 2020 with his parents.”
Officers said that Kumar allegedly sent the threat message in his friend Firoz’s name to implicate him in a terror case. “In 2023, he was jailed for three months after Firoz, a Bihar resident, lodged a case against him at Phulwari Sharif police station in Patna,” said officials.
According to the FIR filed against Kumar, he sent the terror threat message to “frame” Firoz, because of whom he was jailed in 2023.
The arrested accused is being brought to Mumbai and will be produced before the court, later in the day, he added.
(With PTI inputs)
