Kolkata: The alleged Jaish-e-Mohammed operative arrested by the West Bengal STF had planned to target Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and carry out sabotage at the recent students’ protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar by wearing a police uniform, a senior officer of the unit said in Kolkata Saturday.
The accused, identified as Mohammed Hamim Mondal, was arrested from Purba Bardhaman district on Friday and brought to Kolkata later that night for interrogation, IG (Special Task Force) Gaurav Sharma said.
Addressing a press conference here, Sharma said the investigation had established Mondal’s links with Pakistan-based handlers and that he was working at their behest.
“The chief minister was one of the targets. Hamim had been assigned by Pakistan-based handlers the task of keeping a watch on the CM’s movements. He was asked to gather information on the places the chief minister could remain unguarded,” Sharma said.
The agency said Mondal had also planned to infiltrate the recent students’ protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar by procuring a police uniform and carrying out sabotage.
“Besides that, several police officers and politicians were also planned to be targeted,” Sharma said.
According to the IPS officer, preliminary investigation has revealed that apart from Adhikari, several police officers and political leaders were on the radar of the terror module.
In a related development, the STF on Friday night arrested Arpita Sarkar, alleged to be Mondal’s associate and “girlfriend”, and claimed that the duo had conspired to honey-trap the son of a minister of state in West Bengal to abduct him and extort money from the family.
A senior STF officer said the conspiracy was orchestrated at the behest of Pakistan-based handlers linked to the Shahzad Bhatti gang.
“Our investigation has revealed a specific plan to lure the minister’s son into a honey-trap, followed by kidnapping and blackmail. The conspiracy was directed by Pakistan-based handlers. We are probing the precise role of each accused and whether others were involved,” the officer said.
The STF claimed Sarkar and Mondal had planned to cultivate personal relationships with influential persons to extract sensitive information on the instructions of their cross-border handlers.
Bengal STF sleuths also claimed to have recovered international SIM cards issued in the United Kingdom and Mexico from the accused.
“The SIM cards are suspected to have been used for encrypted communication with handlers operating from abroad and to facilitate the strengthening of sleeper cells and the terror network in different parts of the country,” Sharma said.
The probe has further revealed that Mondal was allegedly radicalised through social media before coming in contact with Pakistan-based operatives linked to the Shahzad Bhatti group, he elaborated.
The agency claimed the accused was in contact with several Pakistan-based handlers through encrypted messaging platforms, including WhatsApp and Telegram as well as Element X and Session, after initially connecting with them on Instagram.
“During the investigation of his mobile phone and social media chat history, we have found some very serious information. He was in touch with several Pakistan-based handlers through encrypted platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram,” Sharma said.
Investigators identified the handlers by the aliases ‘Rana’, ‘Uzair’, ‘Abid Jatt 333’ and ‘Hamad’, all of whom are suspected to be linked to the Pakistan-based Shahzad Bhatti gang, which the STF alleged is involved in radicalisation, narco-terror activities and recruiting youths for extremist operations.
The probe into the module began after investigators received inputs about the conspiracy to extort money from the minister and abduct his son using a honey-trap, another STF officer said.
“A few days ago, we received information about a plan to extort money from a senior politician from Howrah and abduct his son through a honey-trap. We were told that an organisation was behind the conspiracy. That led us to a social media handle from Sahibganj, which was being operated by one Arpita Sarkar,” he said.
The IG STF further said its investigation into Sarkar’s social media account led officers to Mondal.
According to the IPS officer, the two had been in contact for the last four years after first getting acquainted on Instagram and later meeting in person.
The agency claimed the two were in a relationship and that investigators were examining whether Sarkar had been used to lure potential targets as part of the alleged honey-trap operations.
Sharma said further investigation was underway to ascertain the full extent of the alleged terror network, identify other members of the module and establish its cross-border links.
“The matter is extremely sensitive, and we cannot disclose more,” the IG said, adding that there could be more arrests in connection with the matter.
