File picture of Haywood

Mumbai, Aug. 18: Kenneth Haywood, the American from whose computer terror warnings for the Ahmedabad blasts were sent out, has dodged a lookout notice and flown out of India.

“We had issued a lookout notice against Haywood and his wife Kens White at all land, sea and air exit routes under instructions from Gujarat police after he was detained on July 26. It was still valid. He left without informing us,” said Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare.

“Haywood was not arrested as he was not a suspect and was only required for questioning. His passport was not impounded for the same reason.”

ATS sources said he flew out of Delhi airport for the US on Sunday evening.

“We are not sure if his wife and two daughters accompanied him or left earlier. It is not clear how he could leave despite the lookout notice,” said Parambir Singh, ATS additional commissioner of police.

Haywood’s lie-test results, which arrived today, have cleared him of any hand in sending the email warning, Singh said.

In New Delhi, US embassy spokesperson Elizabeth Fitzerman refused comment on the case. “He is a private American citizen and revealing such details about him would be violating his privacy. I will not be able to comment on this.”

The American had been under the scanner since it was found that his IP (Internet Protocol) address was used to send an email warning just five minutes before last month’s blasts.

The police initially went on record that he was “an unwary victim” through whose unsecured Wi-fi network the mail had been sent by the Indian Mujahideen.

“But he remained on our investigation’s radar. We had served him a written order asking him not to leave the country till his name is cleared,” an ATS source said.

Haywood was also asked to take a narco-analysis test. But he refused to do so and alleged to the media that an ATS officer was pressuring him for bribe.

“For all these reasons, he had been asked to report at the ATS headquarters on Monday. When he did not turn up, our enquiries revealed he had left the country,” the ATS source said.

A probe has been ordered into how the lookout notice could have been overlooked.

Haywood was an employee of Campbell White, a US-based computer and soft-skills training company, and had been sent to India as a corporate training manager on a four-year contract. He had been in the country only for a year.

Campbell White has removed all its India contact numbers and surnames of its employees in India, police said. A statement on its website said this was done to protect employees from “malicious intents from anyone, including overambitious media”.

Haywood has claimed in a statement to an American paper, The Miner, that he has been “reported to be everything from a CIA agent to a Navy Seal to a commando”.

A statement released by Campbell White said: “Officials have determined that Mr Haywood’s computer and/or e-mail address were compromised by a third party and illegally misused.

“…neither Mr Haywood, family members, landlord, or anyone connected with Campbell White have been detained by the police or charged with any crime whatsoever.”