The Mumbai Crime Branch’s investigation into an email threatening to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi and blow up Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad found that it was sent using the Proton Mail platform and the servers of this platform were in Switzerland, said sources. Narendra Modi Stadium is scheduled to host a World Cup match between India and Pakistan on October 14.
An official said this Switzerland-based company providing email platform does not share the information of its users which makes it difficult to trace where this email has come from.
According to sources, the email was received by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which was later sent to Mumbai Police for further investigation. The police probe found that the email was sent by using the Proton Mail platform and the email ID was registered in the name of ‘Osama Bin Laden’s hire’. Sources said that investigation revealed that the email has more than 7-8 layers of security and its domain is located in Switzerland. The agency has requested the concerned government to share more information about the email ID.
What threat was made in the email?
This threat email reads, “We want Rs 500 crore and Lawrence Bishnoi from your government, otherwise tomorrow we will blow up Narendra Modi Stadium along with Narendra Modi. Everything is sold in India, something is bought, no matter how safe it is. Do it, you won’t be able to save. If you want to talk, then talk on this mail only.”
Switzerland’s servers were used for threat mail in past too
The crime branch sources said that the same email platform was earlier used this year to send a bomb threat email to a foreign chartered plane. The first incident involved a chartered flight from Moscow to Goa with 240 passengers on board, in which a bomb threat was made, leading to an emergency landing in Uzbekistan. Similarly, a few days later, another email was received about the same plane, due to which it made an emergency landing in Jamnagar, Gujarat.
Taking advantage of the server’s secrecy policy
Sources claimed that in such cases the user takes advantage of the confidentiality policy of Proton Mail customer (server).