During the Ganeshotsav festival, a shocking threat message was sent to Mumbai Traffic Police claiming that 400 kg of RDX was hidden in 34 vehicles across the city and that more than one crore people could be killed. The suspect behind this threat, Ashwin Supra, has now been identified as a habitual cyber fraudster.
Investigations revealed that the accused had previously threatened a businessman in Bihar over the phone and carried out cyber fraud by impersonating officials. Following the Mumbai threat, Bihar Police received intelligence about Ashwin’s involvement, after which they traveled to Mumbai and arrested him. Authorities recovered seven SIM cards from him, and he already has two criminal cases registered in Patna.
The threat message, sent in the name of the terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Jihadi, mentioned human bombs, RDX, and terrorist involvement. This caused panic within the police force, especially since the threat came just before Anant Chaturdashi, a sensitive day during Ganeshotsav. Mumbai Police immediately alerted intelligence agencies and began surveillance and investigation.
Based on inputs, Mumbai Police contacted Noida Police, who arrested the suspect Ashwin Supra. Originally from Bihar, he had been living in Noida for the past few years. His mobile phone was seized, and it was confirmed that the threat messages were sent from it. The SIM cards recovered from him were used in various cyber frauds.
It also came to light that Ashwin had earlier made repeated anonymous calls to a bookshop owner in Bihar. Posing as a senior officer and a customs official, he lured the victim with claims of cheap gold seized by the Customs Department, and duped him of ₹8 lakh in a cyber fraud on May 5.
A Pattern of Threats in Mumbai
This is not the first time Mumbai has faced such scare tactics. In August, an anonymous caller rang up the DGP’s office in Colaba claiming bombs were placed in local trains. Recently, several schools, government offices, and embassies received threats over emails and phone calls about impending bomb blasts. Even the Four Seasons Hotel in Worli received a bomb threat via email. All these incidents were later found to be hoax threats aimed at creating panic.