New Delhi: A day after the Delhi Police Special Cell busted an ISI-linked terror syndicate involving Pakistan-based gangster-turned-terrorist Shahzad Bhatti, the unit has arrested five of the eight accused while uncovering another ISI-backed inter-state terror module linked to Bhatti, police said Wednesday.
According to officials, the rest three members of this module were earlier arrested during the Operation ‘Gang Bust 2.0’.
The accused were tasked to target police personnel in Delhi and neighbouring states, glamorise Pakistan-based handlers by pasting their posters as well as popularise an ISI-sponsored alleged terror outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Hindustan (TTH) by painting graffiti in Delhi- National Capital Region (NCR).
Police said that the TTH recently took responsibility for the killing of an Assistant Sub-Inspector in Amritsar’s Majitha.
Teams of Special Cell (New Delhi Region) led by Inspector Sunil Rajain and Inspector Dheeraj under the supervision of Assistant Commissioner of Police (New Delhi Range), Vivek Kumar Tyagi, successfully dismantled the ISI-linked terror module.
FIRs under relevant sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Arms Act had been registered in this regard.
Following the operation, investigators have recovered five small arms along with 10 live rounds, posters of Abid Jutt, a member of Shahzad Bhatti network, and incriminating material, including videos threatening or following police personnel.
Police said that the Special Cell had been continuously working on gathering intelligence on the terrorist and criminal activities of Bhatti and his network in India.
Credible and reliable inputs were received from human sources which were further processed and analysed along with technical evidence. This resulted in arrests of the accused along with significant recoveries.
The accused have been identified as Sohail, Sonu Meena, Sachin Kumar Meena, Md. Kaif and Md. Rihan. All the accused are in their 20s and residents of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
Officials revealed that Sohail was arrested from Ballabgarh in Faridabad. He came in contact with Shahzad Bhatti over encrypted messaging apps and had painted graffiti of TTH at multiple locations in Delhi and Faridabad on the latter’s order. He sent the videos of graffiti to Bhatti, who, in turn, provided him Rs 5,000 for this task.
Sohail is a hardened criminal and has previously been involved in multiple criminal cases.
The second accused, Sonu Meena, was arrested from Delhi’s Ghitorni area. He was in contact with Hassan Gujjar, a member of Shahzad Bhatti’s network. Three pistols and live rounds were recovered from him. Investigators have learned that he was tasked with arranging weapons and providing financial assistance to other members of the module for attacks. He had sent the Rs 5,000 amount to Sohail.
Sachin Kumar Meena was also arrested from the same area in Delhi. Two pistols and live rounds were recovered from him. He was an associate of Sonu Meena.
Md. Kaif was arrested from Haryana’s Mewat. He was in communication with Rana Hunain and Abid Jutt, also members of the Bhatti network. Hunain has instructed him to carry out target killings of police personnel, conduct recce of police stations and security camps, and recruit youth for firing and grenade attacks. Kaif also sent posters of Abid Jutt to his acquaintance Md. Rihan to affix those at multiple locations.
The fifth accused, Md. Rihan, was arrested from Meerut. He was in contact with Pakistani handlers Abid Jutt and Mohsin, also part of Bhatti network. He affixed posters of Abid in Meerut and was tasked by the latter to fire upon police personnel. He was offered Rs 3 lakh for this task and was also directed to paint graffiti of TTH and conduct recce of security establishments.
