The police have detained one person for sending two hoax terror messages from unknown WhatsApp numbers to a friend as a prank. The complainant, Sagar Molawde, works as an executive at GP Petroleum in Andheri’s MIDC area. The suspect, Rameshkumar Yadav, 32, was detained in Goa.
Molawde received text messages when he was heading home
On Thursday, when Molawde was heading back home to Kanjurmarg after work, he received the first message at 7.02pm, stating, “The plan is for the 9'o'clock train… will be packed. We will succeed in our mission. Khuda Hafiz.” The second message was received at 8.27pm and read, “There will be rush in the trains and during the same time we will commence our mission. Everything is well here, we will meet on the train. All our phones will be switched off post 10.”
Molawade took screenshots of both the messages and approached the police. Considering that the matter is related to national security, the police immediately formed several teams. Senior police inspector Uttam Pachpute said they didn’t want to take any chances as there have been several threats in the past few months that have come via the control room, be it Mumbai police or traffic police, and even Maharashtra police.
Police swung into action immediately
“This one was sent to a civilian, randomly. To substantiate, we started tracking and tracing the numbers provided by the complainant to check on movement and background,” said the official on Friday.
Before the detention, a case was registered against unknown persons under section 505 (2) (statement that creates or promotes enmity, hatred, or ill-will) of the Indian Penal Code.
