LUCKNOW: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested another accused, Tawheed Ahmad, in its ongoing probe into the terror groups’ conspiracy to carry out IED blasts in UP. NIA took up the probe from UP Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) in July last year.
So far, NIA has filed a chargesheet against five arrested accused: Minhaj Ahmad, Museeruddin, Shakeel, Moid and Mustaqeem.
They were said to be in touch with terror outfit Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH), an auxiliary of al-Qaida. ATS had claimed that the accused were planning to trigger blasts around Independence Day celebrations in 2021. Investigators had recovered an IED in the form of a pressure cooker bomb from the Lucknow residence of an accused.
NIA said that accused Tawheed Ahmad Shah was arrested from Manchowa, in district Budgam of Jammu and Kashmir.
“Investigation has revealed that the arrested accused Tawheed was the mastermind of the conspiracy for recruitment and to commit terrorist acts in the name of AGuH, including procurement of arms, ammunitions and explosive materials to be used for attacks in UP,” the NIA said.
Sources said that during the questioning with the arrested accused Minhaj Ahmad and Museeruddin, the name of Tawheed Ahmad had cropped up. On the basis of electronic surveillance it was established that the earlier arrested five accused were in touch with Tawheed and were also given explosives and arms to be used in attacks at different places in UP.
Minhaj Ahmad was radicalized online by two al-Qaida terrorists based in Jammu and Kashmir and he had entered into a conspiracy with them for recruiting members for AGuH and for committing terrorist acts. Minhaj then recruited Museeruddin into al-Qaida fold and involved him in the conspiracy for committing terrorist acts in UP, the NIA said.
Museeruddin and Minhaj Ahmad procured arms, ammunition, explosive material and conducted reconnaissance of vulnerable areas for carrying out blasts with an intention to wage war.
Other three accused, Shakeel, Mustaqeem and Moid aided and abetted Minhaj and Museeruddin in procuring weapons and ammunitions, thus becoming a party in the conspiracy. NIA said that the case was still under investigation.
