Delhi Police, Jharkhand ATS nab two terror suspects in joint ops

Delhi Police arrested two terror suspects linked to a wider anti-national module, following raids across multiple states and weeks of surveillance.

Delhi Police’s Special Cell, working with the Jharkhand Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), arrested two terror suspects from south Delhi and Ranchi on Wednesday, claiming they were linked to a wider module that was allegedly planning “anti-national activities.”

Police say suspects used encrypted apps and were guided by overseas handlers. (File photo)

One of the accused, Ashar Danish, a resident of Bokaro’s Petwar, was picked up from Tabarak Lodge in Ranchi, where he had been staying for a long period. The second, Md Aftab from Mumbai, was arrested from south Delhi, police said in a statement on Wednesday. Senior officers said Danish was already wanted in a Delhi Police case.

The arrests followed weeks of surveillance and coordinated raids across multiple states. Police said six to eight more suspects have been detained from different cities and brought to Delhi for questioning. Over the past two weeks, teams raided more than 12 locations in pursuit of what officers described as a “larger terror network” with links to banned outfits and handlers based abroad.

“We found the accused were part of a module with international links. They were working on instructions from handlers outside India and planning something big in Delhi and other cities,” a senior officer said. The suspects, police added, were communicating only through encrypted social media apps.

A team led by additional CP (Special Cell) Pramod Singh Kushwah and DCP (cell) Amit Kaushik conducted the raids with Jharkhand ATS support. Danish was caught in Ranchi’s Islamnagar area with electronic devices and incriminating documents from his room. Aftab, who had recently arrived in Delhi, was picked up from a rented room in south Delhi with what police described was “objectionable material”.

In August last year, the Special Cell had detained over 14 terror suspects across four states – Delhi, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. The men were accused of indulging in terror activities as they were caught with weapons, including assault rifles. Police had then claimed the group was inspired by an Al-Qaeda module.