Padgha searches: ATS registers two FIRs, sends 19 mobiles for forensic analysis

On Monday, the ATS had conducted a search operation across 22 locations in Mumbai and Thane districts connected with suspected terrorist activities

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has registered two separate cases under the Arms Act following its search operation across 22 locations in Mumbai and Thane districts connected with suspected terrorist activities, which led to the recovery of swords, choppers and knives from two places. Nineteen mobile phones seized during the searches have been sent to Kalina for forensic analysis and retrieval of data, which police believe could unearth vital clues about the activities of terror suspects.

The nearly 12-hour-long search operation on Monday was conducted based on information that people close to Saquib Nachan (above), who is currently in Tihar jail for his alleged links with the ISIS module in Delhi, had become active again (Praful Gangurde)

The nearly 12-hour-long search operation on Monday was conducted based on information that people close to Saquib Andul Hamid Nachan, alleged chief of the ISIS module in Maharashtra who is currently in judicial custody for his alleged links with the ISIS module in Delhi, had become active again. Twenty-two persons including seven of Nachan’s close relatives in Padgha – his native village in Bhiwandi taluka under Thane district – were detained during the searches and released on Monday evening after being questioned for several hours.

According to sources in the ATS, those radicalised by Nachan in Padgha communicated among themselves via imo, an instant messaging and video-calling app which was banned by the central government in May 2023 based on suspicions regarding its use in terrorist activities, especially in Jammu and Kashmir.

“We are hoping that forensic analysis of the phones seized from suspects will unearth how they kept in touch and what activities they were planning,” a police officer who is part of the investigating team told Hindustan Times.

The role of two persons among the 22 questioned by the ATS is especially circumspect, the officer said. “We will interrogate them again once we get some evidence.”

The ATS is also verifying if Nachan, who is currently lodged in Tihar jail in Delhi, passed on any messages during video calls with his family members. Prisoners are allowed to talk to their families via video calls in the presence of jail authorities and the Tihar jail manual indicates Nachan interacts with his family regularly, said ATS sources.

Nachan was among 15 persons arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in December 2023 following searches at 44 locations in Maharashtra and Karnataka, which led to the seizure of weapons, cash, digital devices and Hamas flags.

According to the NIA, Nachan was the self-declared leader of the arrested accused who were all members of the Maharashtra module of ISIS. He administered the ‘bayath’ (oath of allegiance to the Khalifa of ISIS) to people joining the proscribed organisation and motivated impressionable Muslim youth to relocate to Padgha. Nachan and his accomplices had also declared Padgha a ‘liberated zone’ and planned various terror activities from the village, the NIA had found.