Ashwini Kumar (51) had been nursing a grudge against his ‘friend’, Firoz Ahmed, for two years. In 2023, police said, Firoz had lodged a cheating complaint against Kumar, and he was jailed in Patna.
On Friday, Kumar, who called himself an astrologer and a Vastu consultant based in Noida, set his revenge plan into motion.
Police said he bought two SIM cards, created a WhatsApp account using these numbers with Firoz’s picture and 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 an organisation called ‘Lashkar-e-Jihadi’, also said that 14 Pakistani terrorists have entered India.
On Friday evening, Mumbai Police Commissioner, Crime, contacted the Police Commissioner of Noida, Lakshmi Singh.
Speaking to The Indian ExpressAdditional Commissioner of Police, Law and Order, Rajeev Narain Mishra, explained what followed the call and how Kumar was arrested. “A SWAT team, headed by me, was formed,” said the Additional CP.
He said two phone numbers that the Mumbai Police shared — which they had traced to Noida — were switched off. “Using CCTV footage, local and manual surveillance inputs, we first identified the vendor of the SIM cards and then we zeroed in on the suspect,” said Mishra.
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The Additional CP said the police team then located a grocery store owner who knew Kumar. “He helped us identify the accused. We then reached Kumar’s flat in Noida on Saturday and arrested him,” he told The Indian Express.
Kumar has been handed over to the Mumbai Police.
He has been living in Civitech Stadia, in Sector 79, with his children and parents for the past five years. Police said his father is a retired government official. “There had been problems between him and his wife, and she does not stay with him,” said the investigating officer.
According to police, the accused originally hails from Patna, where he lived in Patliputra Colony.
Officers said that Kumar allegedly sent the threat message in Firoz’s name to implicate him in a terror case. “In 2023, he was jailed after Firoz, a Bihar resident, lodged a case against him in Patna,” said officials.
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Police have seized seven mobile phones, three SIM cards, six memory card holders, one external SIM slot, two digital cards, and four SIM cardholders from Kumar’s possession.
On Friday, Mumbai was put on high alert as the threat was issued while police were making security arrangements for Anant Chaturdashi, the 10th day of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival.
