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Who is Shahzad Bhatti? Pakistan-based terror group leader's network busted before Independence Day
Shahzad Bhatti has emerged as one of the most prominent cross-border crime figures under the scanner of Indian security agencies for more than a year.
Pakistan-based terrorist Shahzad Bhatti is in the headlines again after home minister Amit Shah on Monday revealed that more than 200 terror suspects linked to the Bhatti-led network were arrested ahead of Independence Day.
“Modi govt destroyed the ISI-backed terror group Shahzad Bhatti Network ahead of Independence Day and thwarted its plans for subversive attacks by arresting more than 200 operatives,” Shah said in a post on X.
The ministry of home affairs via a statement said, over 80 FIRs and 200+ arrests have been recorded against Shahzad Bhatti Network under unlawful activities prevention act, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, arms act, NDPS act, and explosive substances act.
The release further said that recoveries, the statement said recoveries like IEDs, grenades bearing Pakistan Ordnance Factory markings, pistols, live cartridges and espionage CCTVs confirm “the network’s direct cross-border links”.
Also Read | ISI-backed Shahzad Bhatti group destroyed before Independence Day, terror plot foiled: Centre
Who is Shahzad Bhatti?
Bhatti has emerged as one of the most prominent cross-border crime figures under the scanner of Indian security agencies for more than a year, according to an earlier HT report.
A gangster-turned-terror handler who allegedly operates from Pakistan and the Gulf region, Bhatti uses social media and encrypted communication platforms to recruit operatives and coordinate criminal activities in India.
According to NIA and state police investigations, Bhatti is accused of masterminding several attacks in north India. He has been named in the 2025 grenade attack on the residence of Jalandhar-based YouTuber Roger Sandhu.
He has also been chargesheeted in connection with the IED car bomb blast at Baldev Nagar police station in Ambala and was identified as the mastermind behind a grenade attack at a police station in Nalagarh, Himachal Pradesh, allegedly carried out in association with Babbar Khalsa International (BKI).
All about the network he runs
The Shahzad Bhatti Network (SBN) is a Pakistan-based, ISI-backed terror syndicate linked to grenade, IED and petrol bomb attacks, as well as targeted killings across India.
The syndicate has also been paying local conduits to conduct reconnaissance of police, defence and religious sites and to install CCTV cameras for espionage, the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement, according to a HT report.
Wanted by the NIA, Bhatti is a key figure in the recruitment of youngsters in India over the past couple of years. He is also described as the ISI’s man behind active narco-terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and is learnt to have created an outfit named Tehreek-e-Taliban Hindustan (TTH).
With inputs from HT's Neeraj Chauhan
