Ahmedabad blasts: I never fled India, says Ken Haywood

NEW DELHI: American national Ken Haywood, linked to the Ahmedabad serial blasts terror email, returned after allegedly fleeing the country in August 2008. (Watch)

Haywood, a 44-year-old US citizen working for an IT firm in Mumbai, returned to his home in Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, a little after midnight on Wednesday.

However, the man himself denied fleeing the country.

Speaking to Times Now, Ken said, "I came back because I was not running. I was actually surprised to hear the press say that I was running."

He further went on to add, "There will be a press statement made on Thursday. This is how my company would like to do and I would prefer to go the company's way. I am forbidden from talking to anyone and I don't want any further trouble."

Ken Haywood arrives in India
Ken Haywood who sneaked out of the country after hoodwinking the immigration authorities nearly a month ago landed in the city late night on Wednesday.

Haywood was under the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) scanner for nearly a month after his Wifi account was used to send a terror email to a news channel five minutes before the August 26 Ahmedabad blasts. Sources said Haywood had boarded a British Airways flight (BA 139) from London's Heathrow airport and reached Mumbai after midnight. He will continue to work with Campbell White as communication expert.

Sources said Haywood had fled the city as he was afraid of being put through a narco-analysis test. He underwent lie detector and brain mapping tests after the ATS failed to crack the origin of the mail. "He relaxed at his Arizona home. He wanted to be away from public gaze," the source revealed.

Haywood's 15th floor flat in Guinina Apartments off Palm Beach Road, Sanpada, is reportedly being readied for the family's arrival. "The flat was cleaned in the morning," the source said.

Though the flat had not been sealed, officials from the Navi Mumbai police commissionerate had been keeping a watch on it.

On August 17, a day before he was to undergo another round of questioning at the ATS office, Haywoood and his family left for the US. They took a domestic flight to New Delhi and left for the US at midnight. The family managed to sneak out despite a lookout notice issued against him at all international airports.

Soon, a blame game began with the ATS accusing the immigration authorities of being lax. Questions were also raised about the ATS failing to keep a watch on his movements and not seizing his passport. Officials found it difficult to junk the theory that he was allowed to go with the knowledge of the government. An immigration official was suspended following the incident.

But the ATS has lifted the lookout notice for Haywood and will not carry out any further probe into his role in the email. It's, however, learnt that the officials will question him on how he managed to fly out of the country.

Meanwhile, investigations into the origin of the email have reached a dead end despite experts spending hours on his computer system hoping for a breakthrough. Forensic experts, too, have failed to crack the case. "In a Wifi system, it is difficult to trace the origin of the mail," an expert in e-security conceded.