AMU Bomb Threat: Police Trace UPI, Detain Teenager Near Nepal Border

Police detained a teen in connection with the AMU bomb threat, tracing the email and UPI details to Deoria, Uttar Pradesh.

Aligarh:In a major breakthrough into the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) bomb threat case, the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) has detained a teenager from Deoria area of the state even as the main suspect remains at large, officials said on Tuesday.

On January 8, the AMU administration received a threatening email from an ID named “Tiwari Shri Jayant.” The email claimed that explosives had been planted on campus with the help of some students and demanded Rs 2 lakh via UPI transfer. It also warned that if the demands weren’t met, pig fat would be mixed into food distributed on campus.

An official said that police traced the UPI number mentioned in the email to a person in Hardoi. During the investigation, the email's sender was found to have operated from the Nepal border area in Deoria district, Uttar Pradesh. Subsequently, the Aligarh police along with the Lucknow ATS and Deoria police detained the teenager.

During questioning, the teenager denied sending the email but admitted to creating an email ID and UPI account while residing in Kota, Rajasthan, where he was preparing for engineering entrance exams, the official said. He revealed that he later sold these credentials, which might have been misused by someone else.

Aligarh SP City Mrigank Shekhar Pathak stated that the teen had been brought to Aligarh for further interrogation. “Our investigation indicates that the email ID and UPI details used in the threat were sold by the teen and exploited by another person,” he said.

The bomb threat caused alarm among AMU administrators and students, prompting increased security measures across the campus. Police are now working to identify the person who sent the threatening email and determine whether the threat was part of a bigger conspiracy.

A cyber forensic team is aggressively working on the case, and police are optimistic that the criminal will be apprehended shortly. Meanwhile, the AMU administration has increased campus security to safeguard the safety of the students and staff members.