Explosives-laden SUV: Jaish-ul-Hind’s Telegram channel ‘created in Tihar’, say police

Mumbai: A Telegram channel through which an organisation named Jaish-ul-Hind had claimed responsibility for placing an explosives-laden SUV near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence here was ”created in the Tihar” area of Delhi, a senior Mumbai police official said on Thursday.

The Delhi police has been informed about it, he added.

The police took the help of a private cyber agency to track the location of the phone on which the Telegram channel was created, the official said.

During the investigation, the location of the phone was traced near Delhi’s Tihar Jail, he added.

A Mahindra Scorpio car with gelatin sticks was found parked near ”Antilia”, the multi-storey residence of Ambani, in south Mumbai on February 25.

According to police sources, the Telegram channel was created on February 26 and the message claiming responsibility for placing the vehicle outside Ambani’s residence was posted on the Telegram messaging app late in the night on February 27.

The message had also demanded payment in cryptocurrency and mentioned a link to deposit the same.

During the probe, the link was found as ”not available”, due to which the investigators suspected it to be mischievous, the official said. On February 28, another message from Jaish-ul-Hind surfaced on a social media platform, claiming that the organisation did not have any role in the incident.

The investigation in the case was initially conducted by the Crime Branch of the Mumbai police.

After the mysterious death of Thane-based auto parts dealer Mansukh Hiran, who was in possession of the SUV that was later found parked outside Ambani’s residence, the probe was transferred to the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

On Monday, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the case related to the recovery of the explosives-laden vehicle.