NEW DELHI, June 17: Five more persons associated with an alleged interstate terror module linked to Pakistan-based gangster Shahzad Bhatti have been arrested for allegedly plotting attacks on police personnel and disseminating propaganda for an ISI-backed outfit, a Delhi Police official said on Wednesday.
The latest arrests come a month after three members of the alleged module were apprehended during Operation Gang Bust 2.0 on May 7, taking the total number of arrests in the case to eight.
“The accused were tasked with targeting police personnel in Delhi and neighbouring states, conducting reconnaissance of police stations and security establishments, and promoting an alleged terror outfit, Tehreek-e-Taliban Hindustan (TTH), through graffiti and posters in Delhi-NCR,” a senior police officer said in a statement.
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The arrestees have been identified as Sohail (26), resident of Faridabad, Sonu Meena (30) from Ghitorni in Delhi, Sachin Kumar Meena (20) from Rajasthan’s Dausa district, Mohammad Kaif (21) of Haryana’s Nuh and Mohammad Rihan (20) from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh.
Police said the module was being operated by Pakistan-based handler Shahzad Bhatti — backed by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) — through associates including Hassan Gujjar, Rana Hunain, Abid Jutt and Mohsin — all based in Pakistan.
During the operation, police recovered five firearms, 10 live cartridges, posters and digital material including videos allegedly revealing threats to police personnel and containing surveillance details of potential targets.
“The Special Cell had been monitoring the activities of Bhatti and his network and developed intelligence through human sources and technical surveillance, leading to the arrests,” the police officer said.
He said Sohail, who has a criminal record, painted TTH graffiti at several locations in Delhi and Faridabad at Bhatti’s direction and shared videos of the activity through encrypted messaging platforms. He was allegedly paid Rs 5,000 for the task.
Three pistols and ammunition were recovered from Sonu Meena, who was allegedly responsible for arranging weapons and providing financial support to other members of the module. Police said he transferred Rs 5,000 to Sohail for carrying out propaganda activities.
Sachin Kumar Meena, an associate of Sonu, was found in possession of two pistols and live rounds, police said.
“Kaif was allegedly in contact with Bhatti’s associates Rana Hunain and Abid Jutt, who instructed him to conduct reconnaissance of police establishments, recruit youths for attacks and plan targeted killings of police personnel,” the officer said.
Police said Rihan was in direct contact with Pakistan-based handlers Abid Jutt and Mohsin. He allegedly pasted posters of Abid Jutt in Meerut and was offered Rs 3 lakh to open fire on police personnel. He was also tasked with conducting reconnaissance of security establishments and promoting TTH through graffiti.
Police said TTH had recently claimed responsibility for the killing of an assistant sub-inspector in Amritsar’s Majitha.
The three accused arrested earlier in the case — Soyab and Ravi Kashyap of Uttar Pradesh’s Amroha, and Anmol Rai alias Annu from Madhya Pradesh — were allegedly involved in plans to attack police personnel and had recorded videos threatening officers at the behest of their handlers, they added. (PTI)
