Man arrested from Noida for sending ‘human bombs’ threat to Mumbai police

The Mumbai Police on Saturday arrested a man identified as Ashwini, a resident of Noida, for allegedly sending a hoax terror threat claiming that 14 “human bombs” had arrived in Mumbai to carry out large-scale attacks.

According to officials, Ashwini is originally from Bihar and has been living in Noida for the past five years.

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He had sent the threat message on the official WhatsApp number of Mumbai Traffic Police, claiming 14 terrorists from a Pakistan-based ‘Lashkar-e-Jihadi’ had infiltrated Mumbai.

In the message, he also claimed that 400 kg of RDX had been fitted into 34 vehicles and a series of blasts would be carried out in the city.

The threat, which came amid Ganapati Visarjan, prompted police to increase the security across Mumbai. Bomb disposal squads and anti-terror teams were deployed at several key locations as a precaution.

A special team was immediately constituted to trace the origin of the message. Acting on specific intelligence, Mumbai Police coordinated with Noida Police, resulting in Ashwini’s arrest from Sector-113 in Noida.

During preliminary interrogation, the accused told the police that he worked as an astrologer. Police have seized the mobile phone used to send the hoax message and are conducting a thorough investigation into his motives.

According to reports, Ashwini wanted to frame another man on whose complaint he was jailed in 2023.