New Delhi: A tip-off about heavy movement of firearms and explosives, and a search of a rented room in south Delhi’s Chattarpur led to four men—three Indian citizens and a Nepal national—landing in the net of Delhi Police’s Special Cell Saturday. The four were allegedly in “constant communication” with Pakistani handler Shehzad Bhatti’s associates, officers said.
The three Indians have been identified as Harwinder, Gagandeep and Manjeet. All three hail from Ludhiana. Along with them, a Nepal national, identified as Ang Kami Lama, has been arrested, a senior officer said. They were intercepted at Mahrauli-Badarpur Road at around 1 am Saturday, and had been staying at the Chattarpur apartment since Friday.
“The four of them were instructed to target locations in Delhi with high footfall and target police personnel in high security areas and along the city’s borders,” the officer said, adding that they had allegedly been asked to “maximise casualty of civilians and security forces”.
Two of the accused have previous criminal records linked to molestation and narcotics. Lama was also previously arrested in Bangkok for association with illegal narcotics transportation, the officer said.
“The four of them came to Delhi Friday and were instructed to carry out mass casualty on Saturday, and go immediately underground. A total of four grenades, two pistols, and 25 cartridges were recovered from their room,” the officer further said.
According to the police, the arrests were made after they received a tip-off about four men moving with a high number of arms. “We have been monitoring Shehzad Bhatti’s men, and this tip-off was also received in connection with that. Bhatti has been one of their handlers, contacting them through internet calls and social media platforms like Instagram,” the officer said.
A total of eight arrests have been made in the bust so far.
Two other individuals linked to the alleged terror module, Taoqeer Rizwan and Sajid Mehboob, were arrested from Mumbai earlier this month. “Their arrests were made after we found links between them and Munna Jhingada who Thai police had arrested for attacking Chota Rajan in 2000,” the officer explained. Rizwan and Mehboob are in police remand.
Jhingada had been incarcerated for 17 years, when his paths crossed with Lama, who too was serving a 13-year jail sentence in Thailand, the officer told The Print.
Delhi’s Patiala House Court has granted seven days’ police remand of the four accused arrested Saturday. “Since they were arrested while possessing a high number of explosives, they will be booked under UAPA [Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act]’,” the officer added.
Initial investigation has revealed that the accused were given instructions at various stages of the “planning of the terror attack” by their “handlers”—Shehzad Bhatti, Yawar Khan, Munna Jhingada, and Amir Jatta. Jhingada and Yawar have alleged links to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The police are monitoring at least 200 other active associates of Shehzad Bhatti, who has allegedly been hiring young Indian men to carry out terror activities.
Two other arrests were previously made in May. Vijay Shooter, a native of Uttar Pradesh, was arrested from Pune, and his associate Nitish was arrested from Jharkhand.
Also, Jhingada is an alleged henchman of gangster Dawood Ibrahim. “The arrests have revealed a growing nexus of Shehzad Bhatti and Dawood’s gang plotting to execute attacks in both Delhi and Mumbai,” said the officer.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)