The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) on Wednesday arrested two people in connection with a bomb threat to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the soon-to-be-inaugurated Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Bomb threats were also sent to STF Additional Director-General of Police (ADG) Amitabh Yash, and an individual, Devendra Tiwari.
The arrested accused, Tahar Singh and Om Prakash Mishra, hailed from Gonda.
The two had threatened Adityanath, STF chief Amitabh Yash and Ayodhya’s Ram temple in a post on ‘X’ in November using the handle ‘@iDevendraOffice’, the statement said.
Investigation initially revealed that email IDs ‘alamansarikhan608@gmail.com’ and ‘zubairkhanisi199@gmail.com’ were used to send the threat posts, it said.
Technical analysis led to the identification and arrest of the culprits, who had used a Vivo T-2 mobile phone and a Samsung Galaxy A-3 to create the threatening email IDs and send the emails. Additionally, a Wi-Fi router and a DVR (Digital Video Recorder) of CCTV cameras at the location where the emails were sent were also seized.
According to the police, the emails were allegedly orchestrated by an individual named, Zubair Khan, who claimed to be an official from Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI.
Under the supervision of STF Deputy Superintendent of Police Pramesh Kumar Shukla, a search operation was initiated.
He said that during the interrogation, the arrested accused revealed that they were acting under the instructions of Devendra Tiwari, who ran NGOs under the names of Bharatiya Kisan Manch and Bharatiya Gau Seva Parishad.
Tahar Singh, responsible for handling social media, and Om Prakash Mishra, serving as a personal secretary and pursuing a diploma in optometry, were employed at Tiwari’s college — the Indian Institute of Paramedical Sciences.
Tiwari allegedly instructed them to create fake email IDs and send threatening messages, which were then publicised through his X account to gain media attention and political leverage, police said.
The accused confessed that after sending the emails, the mobile phones used were destroyed on Tiwari’s orders and the office Wi-Fi was utilised for internet access during the act.