Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Police has claimed that the letter found inside the pocket of one of the two terrorists who were gunned down at Akshardham temple was written by one of the two Muftis out of five persons arrested by city Crime Branch recently in connection with the terrorist attack on the temple, official sources said on September 17.

An official release said that handwriting experts of the state Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) have studied the letter carefully and on comparing it with written samples taken from the five accused persons, managed to match it with that of Mufti Abdul Kayum.

The letter, written in Urdu and calling for vengeance by shedding "Hindu blood" following the post- Godhra communal violence, was handed over to Gujarat Police by the National Security Guards (NSG) team that had shot dead the two terrorists in a night-long operation on September 25 last year, the release said.

The Anti-Terrorist Squad that was investigating the temple attack case initially had given the letter to FSL experts.

However, after a recent spate of crackdowns by the city Crime Branch that managed to arrest five from the city including two Muftis, further investigation of the case was handed over to them.

Thirty-two persons including four security personnel were killed when the two terrorists attacked the temple with automatic weapons and grenades on September 24.

PTI