2 terror suspects were in touch with LeT handlers: Cops

Police said the interrogation of the terror suspects revealed that they were in contact with “some foreign entities involved in propagating terror activities in India to destabilise communal harmony”.

A day after the Delhi Police recovered a dismembered body following the interrogation of two terror suspects in the national capital, the special cell said on Sunday that the men were in touch with a Lashkar-e-Taiba handler in Pakistan and Canada-based terrorist Arshdeep Dalla, and were planning to target “right-wing leaders”.

The police said 3 pistols and 22 live cartridges were also recovered from the 2 men, who were planning terror strikes.

On Saturday, the police stepped up security ahead of Republic Day celebrations after the body, chopped up into at least eight pieces, and two hand grenades were recovered from a rented accommodation near the Bhalswa Dairy in north-west Delhi’s Jahangirpuri.

Naushad Ali, 56, a resident of Jahangirpuri, and Jagjit Singh alias Jagga alis Yakub, 29, a resident of Udham Sing Nagar in Uttarakhand, were arrested on Thursday last week. The police said three pistols and 22 live cartridges were also recovered from the men who were planning terror strikes.

Additional commissioner of police (special cell) Pramod Singh Kushwah said: “Naushad was being handled by a suspected LeT handler. Jagjit’s handler was Canada-based Arshdeep, who is a designated terrorist and member of Bambiha gang. They were tasked to plan and carry out attacks on right-wing Hindu leaders in neighbouring states.”

He added that the interrogation of the terror suspects revealed that they were in contact with “some foreign entities involved in propagating terror activities in India to destabilise communal harmony”. The suspects, to prove their credibility and capability to the handlers, killed a man, chopped up his body and disposed of the parts. “It has been found that the two received money after they committed the murder,” he said.

The suspects were booked under sections 16, 17, 18 and 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and 120B (Conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, Section 25 of the Arms Art and Section 5 Explosive Substance Act.

Meanwhile, the police also filed murder charges against the suspects.

An investigator, who asked not to be named, said that the terror suspects shared names of their contacts in Pakistan but police teams were verifying whether the names were real or aliases.

Another investigator said that the two men identified the man they killed as a “Hindu” and found him to be an “easy target as he was a drug addict”. A “Trishul tattoo” was found on the deceased’s arm, the officer said. The two men sent a video of the killing to their handlers, the investigator said, adding that they have so far recovered at least eight pieces but are yet to recover the head. He added that the accused received ₹5 lakh after the killing.

The police said that they received an intelligence input that Singh had set up base in north Delhi for the purpose of carrying out attacks. They began investigating the input and discovered that Singh was living with Naushad in Jaghangirpuri and that he had acquired high-grade weapons. “On the basis of this information, we found out that a conspiracy was being hatched from across the border to eliminate prominent people,” Kushwah said.

Singh was arrested in a murder case in 2018 in Uttarakhand and was lodged in Haldwani jail, where he met members of the Bambiha gang – a rival to Lawrence Bishnoi’s outfit. When Singh was released on parole in 2022 for 20 days, he was attacked by members of the Bishnoi gang, the police said, adding that this was the point at which Singh came in touch with Dalla.

Naushad met Singh in 2020 when the former was arrested in Uttarakhand in a case of extortion. The police said that during his time in the Haldwani jail, he met Singh and was subsequently released in April 2022. Singh jumped parole and the two revived their association, the police said.

Naushad was first arrested in 1991 in a murder case reported in Jahangirpuri and then again in 1996 in a case of another murder and under charges of Explosive Substances Act. While spending 25 years in jail, he came in touch with several terrorists lodged in Tihar jail arrested for alleged terror activities. Through them, he came in touch with cross-border “terror handlers”, the police said.

Special commissioner of police (special cell) HGS Dhaliwal said: “The investigation is in early stages and more details will emerge when facts are established”.