NAGPUR: Jagdish Uikey, a 35-year-old resident of Maoist-affected Gondia district in Maharashtra, was taken into custody by Nagpur police on charges of sending 354 hoax emails targeting Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), top govt officials, flights and trains across India.
Uikey had emailed PMO and other officials nearly 100 times since January, requesting endorsement for his book on terrorism, ‘Atankwad-Ek Tufaani Rakshash (Terrorism: A Demonic Storm)’, Nagpur DCP for cybercrime Lohit Matani said Saturday. “Prima facie, he seemed to be pursuing PMO and others to get his book published with repeated emails, but later he switched to sending hoax mails in frustration,” said police commissioner Ravinder Singal Uikey’s book, according to Nagpur’s additional CP Sanjay Patil, appears to be a rudimentary compilation of terrorist theories widely available on the internet.
This is not Uikey’s first encounter with law enforcement. According to Singal, the suspect had been interrogated twice before for sending inappropriate emails and filing a complaint alleging connections between job aspirants and PMO.
“Once he was interrogated for sending objectionable emails and on another occasion, he was questioned over his complaint of job aspirants being close to PMO. The crime branch thoroughly probed, but no offence was registered,” Singal said.
In recent emails, Uikey allegedly issued warnings of sleeper cell activity within India, often aligning his threats closely with similar warnings circulating from US sources. Police say they are examining the possibility that he may have borrowed language from these US sources.
Investigations are under way into Uikey’s digital activity and communication patterns. Police are examining his devices and any cybercafé terminals he may have used to send the emails. “We are scanning his call details records and laptops. His bank accounts and monetary trails are also being checked,” Singal said.
Authorities have flagged 354 emails in his Gmail account’s “sent” folder, and have reportedly discovered a distinct pattern in Uikey’s email activity, including a recent email sent in Oct to Maharashtra deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, in which he falsely claimed knowledge of a “secret terror code”.
Delhi Police’s special cell has joined the investigation, with officers on site in Nagpur to question Uikey. A Nagpur police special branch team led by DCP Shweta Khedkar rounded up Uikey at Nagpur railway station Thursday. He is currently in police custody, with officials expected to extend his remand .Police plan to conduct psychological evaluations on Uikey to gain further insights into his actions and possible motivations.
