A man from Kolkata’s Garden Reach area has been arrested on charges of sending an email to police threatening to launch a suicide attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari “with the help of Al-Qaeda terrorist organisation”, a senior officer said on Saturday.
The man, identified as 27-year-old Hasnain Iqbal, was arrested on Friday night after a joint investigation by the cyber cell and the Special Task Force (STF) of Kolkata Police.
Additional CP-IV of Kolkata Police, V Solomon Nesakumar, said that Bhowanipore police station received the threatening email around 10:15 am on May 14.
The emailer claimed that a suicide attack on the Prime Minister would be carried out with the help of Al Qaeda.
“The email was sent using the identity of a woman. After receiving a complaint, the Cyber Wing and Special Forces of Investigation immediately launched an investigation,” Nisakumar told reporters.
During the investigation, investigators traced the email trail to Hasnain Iqbal, a resident of Golam Abbas Lane in Garden Reach.
The accused later admitted sending the email during interrogation, police said.
“Preliminary investigation indicates that the woman in whose name the email was sent was known to the accused. We suspect that the intent was to harass or implicate her and her family,” Nisakumar said.
Another police officer said investigators also found that the accused had earlier sent emails to several government institutions, including the Election Commission.
Iqbal possessed advanced IT knowledge and was skilled in generating IP addresses and related technical tools, which he allegedly used while sending such emails, he added, adding that further investigations were underway.
