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Balrampur man held for alleged ISI plot; 2 convicted in FICN case
The ATS identified the arrested accused as Shahroz Ahmad, a resident of Jamdhara village under Gaisari police station in Balrampur district. Officials alleged he came into contact with a Pakistani intelligence operative, Jasveer Chaudhary, through Facebook before shifting conversations to WhatsApp, Messenger and Signal.
The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Monday announced the arrest of a 29-year-old man from Balrampur for allegedly working for a Pakistan-based ISI-linked handler to carry out anti-India activities. In a separate case, a special ATS court convicted two men for trafficking high-quality Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) and sentenced them to six years’ rigorous imprisonment each.
The ATS identified the arrested accused as Shahroz Ahmad, a resident of Jamdhara village under Gaisari police station in Balrampur district. Officials alleged he came into contact with a Pakistani intelligence operative, Jasveer Chaudhary, through Facebook before shifting conversations to WhatsApp, Messenger and Signal.
According to the ATS, Pakistan’s ISI, through the network of Pakistani gangster Shehzad Bhatti and Abid Jatt, was allegedly attempting to recruit Indian youth via social media by offering money and encouraging activities aimed at disturbing communal harmony, national security and public order.
During interrogation, Shahroz allegedly told investigators he responded to a Facebook post uploaded by Jasveer in October 2025 seeking “fearless shooters”. The ATS alleged the handler later asked him to recruit more youths and travel to Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan to collect arms and explosives for an alleged terror act.
Officials said Shahroz had returned from Mumbai to his native village two days before his arrest on the handler’s alleged instructions and was preparing to leave for Rajasthan. The ATS also alleged that ₹5,000 was transferred to his bank account to facilitate the alleged activities. Investigators said digital evidence was recovered from his electronic devices.
The ATS arrested Shahroz on Sunday and registered a case under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including Sections 148, 152 and 61(2), at the ATS police station in Lucknow. He was produced before a court for further legal proceedings.
Two convicted in fake currency case
In another development, a special ATS court in Lucknow convicted Tahseen of Bulandshahr and Wasim of Bihar’s Sitamarhi district for trafficking counterfeit Indian currency. Both were sentenced to six years’ rigorous imprisonment and fined ₹60,000 each.
The two were arrested on November 1, 2020, after ATS officials recovered counterfeit Indian currency with a face value of ₹5.97 lakh from them.
According to the investigation, the accused allegedly smuggled high-quality fake Indian currency originating from Pakistan and Bangladesh through Kaliachak in West Bengal before circulating it across Delhi-NCR and several cities in Uttar Pradesh. The ATS said forensic examination confirmed the seized notes were of high quality, following which the court convicted both men.
