While Peerbhoy worked with an MNC and earned Rs 19 lakh per year, Mubin comes from a very educated background and his English skills were used to polish the final copies. Peerbhoy and Mubin took briefs on the content from Riyaz Bhatkal and Iqbal Bhatkal before they drafted and converted them into PDF formats.

According to Maria, the three had earlier conducted separate recces looking for unsecured wi-fi networks across the city on five occasions in areas like Sion, Chembur, Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus and Sanpada. On July 26, the day of the Ahmedabad blasts, the group had been told to send the terror e-mail at 18:40 hours. The three were taken to Mumbai from Pune by Indian Mujahideen member Mohammed Akbar Ismail Chaudhary alias Yakub (28) in a blue Esteem.

The second e-mail was allegedly sent to divert attention and delay the investigation. The brief for the third e-mail, timed for the Delhi blast, was also given in the same manner with the despatch time at 18:20 hours, adds Maria. The same vehicle was used in all three instances, he adds. The group would split up and take the laptops with them in state transport buses to avoid checking after their task was accomplished.

Five laptops, including the ones used for sending the e-mails, six central processing units, three pen drives and equipment for tracking radio frequency and wi-fi routers were seized from the group.

YOUNGEST IS 19-YEAR-OLD, ‘HIGHLY INDOCTRINATED’

Nineteen-year-old Javed Mohammed Ali is the youngest among the 15 new faces of terror and according to senior Crime Branch officials, he is among “the highly indoctrinated”. “It was Javed who led us to all the Mangalore arrests,” said Deven Bharti, Additional Commissioner of Police, (Crime), “His statement is crucial as he has admitted that Riyaz Bhatkal even stayed at their home.”

... contd.