While the country is yet to come to terms of the security slip which led to mass loss of life and property in blasts in various prominent cities across the country, another jolt came on head.

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While the country is yet to come to terms of the security slip which led to mass loss of life and property in blasts in various prominent cities across the country, another jolt came on head. A US national, whose Internet address was used to send a terror e-mail minutes before the Ahmedabad blasts, escaped the country despite a national lookout notice against him. Kenneth Haywood, a former pastor in a small church in Arizona, US, left India via Delhi's Indira Gandhi National.

Maharashtra's Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) officers had summoned him a number of times in the past three days but he had failed to appear. The ATS officers were to conduct a narco analysis on Kenneth. The police had picked up the 44-year-old multinational employee from his residence in Navi Mumbai after investigations showed that his Internet Protocol (IP) address was used to send the e-mail. Two days ago, Kenneth had expressed his frustration over "unnecessary prolongation of the investigation."

In an e-mail interview, he said that he voluntarily went for a polygraph test to clear his name. "It was either that or waits until whenever their investigation was over. I have a business to run and don't know anything helpful to their investigation anyway." Asked if he was still a suspect, he had said, "I think they already have their suspect and are just documenting who knew what or that sort of a thing." Hinting at his frustration over not being given a clean chit till date, Haywood said, "It depends who you talk to. The police from Gujarat told me I had a clean chit last week. The Maharashtra police said they wanted to clear the case first, but they have always said I was not a suspect."

Haywood also alleged in an interview to a local newspaper that a senior officer of the Anti-Terrorist Squad had come to his house in an inebriated condition, demanding bribe. "I am really tired of all this now. Am wary of it all," Hayden had said. Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare says Kenneth Heywood is innocent. "We only wanted to question him about his charge about bribery against one police official. Other investigation with him is already over," Karkare said. Haywood's computer had an unsecured router that did not need a password to access the Internet. Police suspect his computer was hacked into to send the terror email.