New Delhi: Days after the Special Cell of Delhi Police arrested two men for their alleged ties with terror outfits, the initial investigation has revealed that the duo allegedly beheaded a man last month, chopped his body into pieces, made a video and sent it to their handler to prove allegiance to their handler, ThePrint has learnt. Only some body parts of the deceased were recovered by the police Saturday.
The police have not yet been able to ascertain the identity of the deceased yet. Recovered body parts have been sent for forensic examination. But during interrogation, the accused claimed that the victim was a homeless drug addict and they picked him as he was an easy target. The police are trying to ascertain this claim.
The Delhi Police Thursday said that they had arrested two men — 29-year-old Jagjit Singh @ Jagga @Jassa @ Yaqub @ Kaptaan, a native of Uttarakhand, and 56-year-old Naushad from Jahangirpuri. According to the police, three pistols with 22 live cartridges were recovered from the men.
According to sources in the Delhi Police, the video, which was sent to a virtual number, was recovered from the phone of one of the accused. Sources said the initial investigation and custodial interrogation of the two men show that they were in touch with a Pakistan-based handler, Sohail, who is associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and linked to the ISI.
“We are ascertaining the video and tracing the phone number where the video was sent. During investigation, they said they killed the man to show their handler they could do anything to prove themselves,” a police source said.
“Naushad, who had been associated with terrorist outfit Harkat-ul- Ansar, has been involved in two murder cases and has also undergone a 10-year jail sentence in a case under The Explosives Act. Jagjit is a notorious member of the Bambiha gang and has been getting instructions from anti-national elements based abroad. He is a parole jumper in a murder case in Uttrakhand,” a senior police officer said.
Asked about Jagjit’s part in this, a police source said, “He was told to work on expanding the Khalistan base. Pakistan’s ISI has been working to bring together extremists groups.”
The men allegedly stalked their victim before luring him to the rented accommodation in Bhalswa Dairy area where he was killed and the nearly 37-second video made. Traces of blood found in the house have been sent for forensic examination. “The accused said that they killed the man in December. We are verifying their claims. Further investigation is on,” the source said.
Sources also said that the initial investigation has revealed that Jagjit was also in touch with Canada-based gangster-turned-terrorist Arshdeep Singh, alias Arsh Dalla. Dalla, who was declared an ‘individual terrorist’ by the central government earlier this month, faces more than 20 FIRs and has allegedly been financing gangsters here through hawala channels. He reportedly moved to Canada in 2018.
“The beheading video is suggestive of Islamic terror. We are trying to verify the statements made by the accused,” another source said.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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