Mumbai: The suspense over the mystery email sent a few minutes before the July 26 Ahmedabad serial blasts took a new turn on Wednesday when Mumbai Police subjected US national Kenneth Haywood and at least seven of his neighbours in Navi Mumbai to a series of lie detection tests.
Haywood and others were taken to the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory (CFSL) at Santacruz suburb, where he underwent polygraph, brain-mapping and lie detection tests, the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) said.
The blasts threat mail was sent from an email account whose IP address was traced to Haywood's computer with a wi-fi connection, at his residence in Navi Mumbai.
Haywood had said his computer could have been hacked and volunteered for the advanced tests when informed about it, the ATS added.
In the email sent to media organisations minutes before the synchronised terror attacks in Ahmedabad, an outfit calling itself the Indian Mujahideen had warned: "The Indian Mujahideen strike again! Do whatever you can, within five minutes from now, feel the terror of death!"
The ATS has also received a preliminary report of the forensic examination of two computers and a laptop, which Haywood had handed over to the investigators late July.
However, the ATS is awaiting the examination report of the Internet router and the final reports on both (the computers and router) is expected to be ready in the next few days.
Haywood, living with his wife and two daughters at the Gunina Apartments in Sanpada suburb of Navi Mumbai, has been the focus of investigations of the Mumbai ATS and Gujarat ATS. Both agencies have grilled him several times during the past three weeks.
A few days after he was questioned, Haywood had issued a statement saying he was “totally innocent” in the matter.
He also said he was offering full cooperation to the investigating agencies and had voluntarily handed over his computers and Internet router to aid in the probe.
Haywood works as a general manager with the Navi Mumbai operations of a US-based company, Campbell White, which also has a branch in Bangalore. He has been posted to India for a four-year period of which Haywood, a specialist in executive soft skills, has completed a year.
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