Haywood reiterates he was not a suspect, had not run away

Mumbai, Sep 11 (UNI) American national Ken Haywood today reiterated that he had never been a suspect in the Ahmedabad serial blast case and had not run away to the US.

Haywood's ''wi-fi'' connection was hacked in Navi Mumbai, about 40 km from here, to send a terror e-mail to a television channel, just five minutes before Ahmedabad blast on July 26, this year.

In an interview to CNN-IBN here, Mr Haywood said he had come back with his family as he does not want to quit India. ''He and his family love this country and the people here.'' Replying to query, Mr Haywood said he never fled the country and had only gone back to the US for a short break. He said he was never a suspect. He said ''obviously'' he had not run away. He was committed to his company, Campbell White and had to complete his contract with them.

Haywood refuted allegations of him being an American spy.

He said ''It was quite strange. Anyone who has worked with me would know how ridiculous it is. I have got enough years of being a business professional.'' Haywood also refuted statements attributed to him, whereby he had alleged that an ATS official had sought a bribe from him. ''ATS has been completely straight, fair and actually friendly and helpful to me. They are professional men dedicated to the nation. We had different impostors posing from the media and any allegation along those lines was just the press spinning it,'' Haywood said. He also said that anybody could become a victim in these times of terror, irrespective of their caste and nationality.

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