Serial hoax emailer nabbed, sent over 100 mails to PMO to get book on terrorism published

Jagish Uikey, a 35-year-old man from Maoist-affected Gondia district in Maharashtra, was arrested by Nagpur police for sending 354 hoax email against Prime Minister's office, top government officials, flights and trains across the country, reported TOI.

Since January, Uikey has emailed the PMO and other officials over a 100 times, requesting endorsement for his book on terrorism. His book is called ‘Atankwad-Ek Tufaani Rakshash (Terrorism: A Demonic Storm)’, Nagpur DCP for cybercrime Lohit Matani told TOI 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. According to Nagpur’s additional CP Sanjay Patil, the book appears to be a compilation of terrorist theories widely available on the internet.


This is not the first time Uikey has fallen into legal trouble. According to Singal, the accused 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.

Uikey allegedly warned of sleeper cell activity within India in recent emails. He aligned these 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.

Police is investigating Uikey's digital activity and communication patterns. They 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 345 emails in the "sent" folder of his Gmail account, and have reportedly discovered a distinct pattern in Uikey’s email activity. A recent email in Oct0ber was directed to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, in which he falsely claimed knowledge of a “secret terror code”.

Delhi Police's special cell has also joined the investigation. Officers on site in Nagpur will question the accused. Uikey was nabbed from the Nagpur railway station by a Nagpur police special branch team led by DCP Shweta Khedkar on Thursday. He is currently in police custody, with officials expected to extend his remand. Police will conduct psychological tests on Uikey to gain further insights into his actions and possible motivations.