New Delhi: Around 100 text messages were
sent to politicians, including Union Minister Shashi Tharoor,
from two mobile numbers procured using forged documents in the
past fortnight.
Police has detained one more person in connection with
the incident.
Out of the 100 messages, around 40 were sent on April
13 and 14, including the ones to Tharoor, MPs Brinda Karat,
Mehmood Masood Madani, Rashid Alvi, Om Prakash and Sandeep
Dikshit, police sources said.
Investigations have revealed that one of the two
connections procured using the documents of a gym instructor
Manick Verma was later transferred to another name using
different set of identification papers.
Police detained one more person, who is identified as
Yashpal, as investigators found that identification papers
belonging to him were used in one of the SIM cards procured
and used for sending "threatening" and "filthy" text messages.
A senior police official said they were now on a
"process of elimination" to zero in on the suspect.
"We have zeroed in on some people. We are calling more
people for questioning. Details cannot be shared as it will
hamper the investigations," he said.
Police had earlier found that documents in the name
of a city-based gym trainer were used by an unknown person to
procure a SIM card from which "malicious" and "threatening"
messages were sent to Tharoor and others.
Verma`s SIM came under scrutiny after Tharoor`s
Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Jacob Joseph received an SMS two
days ago claiming to be from the `henchmen` of Karachi-based
underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. The SMS threatened the Minister
to stay out of IPL Kochi team or face death.
Police sources said, Verma told investigators that a
police team from Sonepat had come to his west Delhi residence
recently in connection with a probe into a "filthy" SMS sent
from the same number.
However, after questioning Verma, an instructor at the
Constitution club gym, it emerged that he was not at fault and
his documents were being misused.
PTI
