Maha ATS arrests businessman for making hoax call to Mumbai police

Nashik unit of Maharashtra’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested a 47-year-old businessman for making a hoax call to police claiming that three terrorists with Pakistan links had entered Mumbai, an official said.

The accused, a resident of Ahmednagar, is locked in a property dispute with his relatives and he made the hoax call naming his cousin just to harass him, the official said.

The Mumbai police control room received a call on April 7, with the person on the other side claiming that three terrorists from Dubai with a Pakistan connection had sneaked into Mumbai.

The caller identified himself as one Raja Thonge from Pune and gave the name of one of the “terrorists” as Mujib Mustafa Sayyad. He also provided a mobile number and a vehicle purportedly being used by the trio, said the official.

The mobile number was registered in the name of a man from the Beed district but he had no clue about any terrorists, the official said. Further investigations confirmed that the call was a hoax, he said.

While a first information report (FIR) was registered at Azad Maidan police station in south Mumbai, the Nashik unit of the ATS also launched a probe. With the help of technical analysis and other inputs, the ATS apprehended a certain Yasin Yaqub Sayyad, he said.

Yasin Sayyad, who runs an iron coating business, told the ATS that he made the hoax call giving it a terror angle because he wanted police to harass his cousin, the official said. He intentionally used his cousin’s name as one of the terrorists, the official said.