Hyderabad: Police in Noida arrested a 50-year-old man on Saturday for sending a fake terror alert to Mumbai police during the Ganesh festival. The accused, Ashwin Kumar Supra from Patna, had lived in Noida for five years and worked in astrology and vastu consultancy.
On Thursday night, Supra sent a WhatsApp message to Mumbai police claiming that 14 terrorists of “Lashkar-e-Jihadi” had entered the city with 400 kg of RDX in 34 vehicles. He wrote that the attack could kill one crore people.
The message triggered a high alert. Mumbai police asked the Crime Branch to take charge, while the Anti-Terrorism Squad and other agencies also went on alert. Investigators traced the message to Noida. Crime Branch officers then arrested Supra from a residential society in Sector 79.
Mumbai terror hoax traced to astrology practitioner in Noida
Police shifted Supra to Mumbai and seized his mobile phone, SIM cards, memory card holders, and other digital devices.
During questioning, Supra admitted he had spent three months in Patna jail in 2023 in a fraud case filed by a man named Firoz. He told investigators he sent the hoax message in Firoz’s name to take revenge. The details of the fraud case and Firoz’s identity remain unclear.
