Thursday, 31 August 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
A man who had threatened authorities of serial bomb blasts in Nainital district twice since last year in the name of Hizbul Mujahideen was finally arrested from Andhra Pradesh’s Vijayawada. The accused identified as Nitin Sharma alias Khalid was reportedly very clever and had almost no digital presence which made it extremely difficult for authorities to nab him.
The officials of Cyber Cell Police Station of Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) spent about 20 days in Andhra Pradesh besides doing technical and cyber policing to gather evidence and arrest him, said the additional superintendent of police, STF Chandra Mohan Singh. He said that the accused sent a message on the official Facebook page of Nainital police on October 4 last year stating “We will blast bombs in different parts of Nainital district within 24 hours and Hizbul Mujahideen takes the responsibility.” A case was registered against him at Tallital police station.
On July 27, 2023, the police received a similar message on Facebook after which the case was transferred to STF’s cyber police in Dehradun. The deputy superintendent of cyber police Ankush Mishra started the investigation and finally nabbed him on August 28. Singh said that though the accused is only Class X pass, he has been very clever in hiding his identity and digital footprint. The STF had nothing but a photo that was retrieved from CCTV. “He has not been talking much during the interrogation but has revealed that he has converted to Islam and is now called Khalid.
However, all his IDs show Nitin Sharma as his real name. He has also not stated clearly why he sent those texts to the police. It appears that he did those texts for amusement,” said ASP. He said that though it does not appear that he has any psychological problem so far, it is an ongoing investigation and police will gather more information about the case.
