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Maha ATS arrests Pune youth for alleged terror funding
Additional sessions judge S R Navander remanded Junaid to custody till June 3 after the ATS sought 10 days of custody
PUNE The Maharashtra anti-terrorist squad (ATS) has arrested Mohammed Junaid Mohammad Ata from the house of his relative in the Dapodi area of Pune on Tuesday, officials involved in the operation said. According to Maharashtra ATS officials, Junaid, 28, a native of Khamgaon taluka in the Buldhana district of Maharashtra, was arrested for his alleged role in a terror funding case. Junaid works in a scrap dealer’s shop in Dapodi.
Earlier on Tuesday morning, ATS chief Vineet Agarwal, while confirming the arrest of Junaid, said that he would be produced in a Pune court on Tuesday afternoon. After being produced in court, additional sessions judge S R Navander remanded Junaid to custody till June 3 after the ATS sought 10 days of custody.
The FIR against Junaid was registered based on a complaint lodged by assistant police inspector Swapnil Chavan at the ATS police station in Kalachowkie, Mumbai. Thereafter, Junaid was arrested under sections 121(a), 153(a) and 116 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 66 of the IT Act. Junaid, according to officials, was found accepting ₹10,000 as funds from a Jammu and Kashmir-based terror organisation. Officials said that the ATS had alleged that the accused travelled to J&K at least four times, and was in touch with the Lashkar-e-Toiba leadership in the state, and also took ₹10,000 as finance to procure arms and further the terrorist agenda.
Police inspector attached with the ATS, Manjusha Bhosale, told the court that the arrested accused Junaid was in contact with Hamidulla Zargar of Kulgaon, Aftab Shah of Kishtwad and Umar - all from Jammu and Kashmir. The ATS informed the court that these three persons are now wanted in the case. Bhosale is currently investigating the case.
“Between 2021 and April 2022, Zargar had formed a WhatsApp group called ‘Ansar Gazwatul Hind/Tawheed’ and Junaid was also part of it. They discussed anti-national and terror activities. Junaid was in contact with Aftab Shah and Umar and he had also received ₹10,000 in two transactions. They were working for the banned terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Toiba, which is based in Pakistan. The accused were looking for new members for arms collection and training for terror activities in various parts of India. Junaid had been frequently changing his SIM cards. He also created various accounts on Facebook for recruiting new members,” inspector Bhosale submitted to the court. Seeking custodial interrogation, the probe officials informed the court that the terror module involving Hamidulla Zargar of Kulgaon, Aftab Shah of Kishtwad and Umar had planned to carry out anti-national activities at crowded places across India. The ATS plans to investigate the arrested suspect if other persons had been trained for terror activities,” Bhosale submitted in court.
According to officials from the intelligence agency, Junaid had come into contact with members of Jammu and Kashmir terror groups on social media and was subsequently radicalised using religious videos with inflammatory messages. During his interrogation, Junaid confessed that he had accepted funds from the terror organisations, the investigators said. As the accused did not have any lawyer, the court assigned advocate Yashpal Purohit from the legal aid cell to defend him. Purohit, after having a brief interaction with Junaid, told the court that the ATS has leveled various allegations against Junaid. “However the other accused were brainwashing him,” said Purohit. “The ATS will be investigating three others who were in touch with him. Junaid was radicalised online on Facebook and WhatsApp groups,” Purohit said.
