HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, Dec 19: The Assam Police have apprehended 8 fundamentalists with the active assistance from West Bengal and Kerala police thereby busting an attempt to carry out subversive activities across the country, a top official said on Thursday.
The Special Director General of Police (SDGP) Harmeet Singh informed that the arrests were made on the intervening night of December 17-18 from Assam, West Bengal, and Kerala under ‘Operation Praghat’.
Related Posts:
“The operation was launched by the Special Task Force (STF) of the state police in November,” Singh informed during the press conference in Guwahati.
Those arrested allegedly had handlers in Pakistan and Bangladesh and they were working on plans to assassinate Hindu and RSS leaders, he added.
“In a major intelligence-led inter-state operation, undertaken with the active assistance of the Kerala and West Bengal Police against a known global terrorist organisation, the Assam Police Special Task Force (STF) has arrested eight fundamentalists, thus unearthing a terror module which was preparing to strike,” Singh said.
While briefing media about the said operation, Singh stated that the operation was launched after a detailed and prolonged examination of intelligence inputs regarding the anti-national activities being carried out by a group of individuals, under the direction of one Md Farhan Israk.
Israk is a close associate of Jasimuddin Rahmani, chief of Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), an affiliate of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).
Singh said a Bangladeshi, Md Sad Radi alias Md Shab Seikh, was sent to India in November to spread their ideology and create sleeper cells among like-minded individuals across India to initiate violent and subversive actions.
Md Sad Radi visited Assam and West Bengal to meet sleeper cell activists of the banned ABT before he moved to Kerala for the same purpose, where he was nabbed.
“The STF, under the direct supervision of its chief Partha Sarathi Mahanta, launched the operation and teams were dispatched to various parts of the country to identify the jihadi elements. During simultaneous operations in Kerala, West Bengal, and Assam, the arrests were made,” the SDGP said.
Five arrests were made in Assam, two in West Bengal and one in Kerala, he said, adding that four other persons from Kokrajhar district were picked up but were released after preliminary investigation as no such clear evidence has yet been found regarding their involvement.
Incriminating documents and mobile phones were seized from the accused, which indicates their continuous communication with Bangladesh and Pakistan-based entities over the last couple of months, the top cop said.
Texts with distorted religious beliefs relating to Jihad, religious books with distorted narratives, printed and published in Bangladesh, four pen drives, and various Bangladeshi certificates issued in the name of Md Sad Radi were also seized from the accused.
Singh said the module was working to establish sleeper cells all over the country, particularly in Assam and West Bengal.
Two of the arrested accused had visited several locations across West Bengal as part of their concerted efforts, which were aimed at influencing and recruiting youth to join terrorist organisations such as ABT and AQIS, he said.
“Several meetings were organised in Murshidabad and Falakata, where participants deliberated extensively on targeting members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and other Hindu organisations. During these meetings, they devised plans to assassinate prominent religious and Hindu leaders,” Singh said.
The motive was to incite religious tensions and disturbances, aiming to disrupt communal harmony and destabilise the region, he said, adding that these activities are a ‘manifestation’ of the current political situation in Bangladesh.
“These individuals were actively involved in the procurement of arms and ammunition, as a part of the larger conspiracy to wage war against the Government of India,” the SDGP said.
“Investigation is on under ‘Operation Praghat’ to unearth further nodes of the nexus that may have spread across the country,” Singh added. (With inputs from PTI)
