'Terror' letter most likely a hoax, say City police

The four-page letter dashed off to the ISRO centre in Peenya as well to the Vivanta by Taj Hotel near Jalahalli Cross here earlier this week is most likely a hoax and a deliberate prank, the City police have concluded.

Police have gone in for a complete translation of the Urdu text, Kamal Pant, Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) said but declined to reveal its exact content. He, however, said that the Urdu text was probably unrelated to the English part which warned of terror strikes in the City.

A senior officer said that the Urdu text was a random printout of some articles from the internet. It was attached to the English letter just to add a dash of pensiveness. Deccan Herald has a copy of the “threat” letter whose first three pages are in Urdu and the fourth in English. While the three-para English text warns of bloodshed in the City, the three pages of Urdu text do not speak of terrorism in India, let alone Bangalore.

The sender is “Al-ameen Al-Queda squad (sic)” and is titled “Bad days 20 and 21st June 2103 for Bangalore (sic).” The English text contains several typo, grammatical and factual errors. It reads: “We have rebuild our team and are planning to make bloodhsed in Bangalore. Planning to destroy major spots of Bangalore.” The sender claimed that they had suicide bombers and were ready to rewrite the City’s history.

The letter adds that there are “40 members in their team who have infiltrated various organisations and would strike at will”. “We are posing challenge to stop it if you people can.”

The “terror team” is headed by Umar-alla-baksh (sic) and lists 10 targets — National Aeronautics Ltd (NAL), Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), Vivanta by Taj, Leela Palace, Karnataka administrative house (sic), BHEL, BEL, ISRO, Shivajinagar church and HAL Shiva temple.Pant said that the City police were investigating the case seriously and trying to track the sender down. While a copy of the letter was dropped manually at the ISRO campus on Wednesday, another was delivered through courier to Vivanta by Taj on Thursday. Police have questioned some people at the establishments where the letter was found. The CCTV footage at these places is being analysed to identify the person who delivered the letter.

Meanwhile, security has been beefed up at all the major installations in the City besides the “targets”. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) which guards most of the public sector units mentioned in the letter has been informed. Besides, an anti-sabotage drill was held at all the major installations.

Urdu text is random newspaper article

A reading of the Urdu text which consists of three different articles, done by Deccan Herald, is as follows: The first one is a flier by the Balochistan unit of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Pakistani militant organisation known for attacking Shias in that country. The flier says Shias are liable to be killed.

The second appears to be a printout of an Urdu newspaper column. Titled, ‘Yahan Koi Bhi Inquilabi Nahi’ (There is not a single revolutionary out here), it was purportedly written in 2010. It says, “we (Pakistanis) have committed all sins and robberies in 63 years since independence”. The third is a printout of a column — Qalam Kaman (Pen Command) by Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir in the Urdu daily, Jang. The column is titled ‘Nadan Dost’ (unwise friend) and appears to have been penned in the end of April 2010. It discusses the 18th Constitutional Amendment in Pakistan, which was passed on April 8, 2010.