Two men working for Pakistani gangsters and ISI arrested by the UP-ATS
The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which is probing the existence of sleeper cells in Pakistan created through social media, has found that two men, one from Meerut and the other from Delhi, were allegedly in direct contact with Pakistani agents and were “planning a major subversive act”.
Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Amitabh Yash said the ATS launched an investigation following intelligence inputs regarding sleeper cells created through Instagram and other social media platforms.
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He said during the investigation, it was revealed that Pakistani gangster Shahzad Bhatti, Abid Jatt and radical Pakistani YouTubers, allegedly acting on the instructions of the ISI, were trying to radicalize Indian youth and seduce them with financial incentives to disrupt civil peace and communal harmony.
“They were encouraging Indian youths to explore sensitive places and carry out terrorist attacks on their instructions. They were also encouraging them to target some people who had left Islam using advanced weapons.”
According to the investigation, Meerut resident Tushar Chauhan alias Hezbollah Ali Khan and Delhi resident Sameer Khan came under the influence of the network. An ATS team arrested the duo from Noida on Thursday. The police officer said that a gun, five cartridges and a knife were seized from their possession.
During preliminary interrogation, Chauhan allegedly confessed that he contacted Pakistani gangster Shahzad Bhatti and Abid Jatt through Instagram and later communicated with them through voice and video push-to-talk calls.
Yash alleged that to gain Bhatti’s trust, Chauhan opened Instagram accounts in his name, one of which was blocked, after which he opened another account and took Bhatti’s phone number to contact him directly.
He also said that Bhatti asked Chauhan to carry out grenade attacks on the targeted persons and assured him that he would be provided with advanced weapons. The officer added that Chauhan was promised Rs 50,000 in advance and Rs 2.5 lakh after completing the task and was also offered to facilitate travel to Pakistan via Dubai.
According to the ADG, Chauhan also claimed that Bhatti had said that three ISI agents would appoint targets.
Police said interrogation also revealed that Sameer Khan communicated with Bhatti through social media and was allegedly tasked with writing “Tehreek-e-Taliban Hindustan” on walls and recruiting more people.
Yash said Chauhan contacted Sameer through Instagram and both of them were allegedly preparing to carry out activities as per the instructions of their handlers, including reconnaissance of targets.
The accused also made death threats to some people on the orders of Bhatti and Jatt, and Pakistani executives attended some of the calls through conference, the officer added.
He said a case has been registered against both the accused under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Arms Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Police will seek custody of the accused to gather more information about his associates and the wider network, he added.
