On Monday (2 October), the Special Cell of Delhi Police revealed that the suspected ISIS terrorist Shahnawaz, who was arrested earlier in the day, converted his wife Basanti Patel to Islam. As per media reports, he had married a Hindu woman named Basanti Patel, a resident of Gujarat. After marriage, he got his wife converted to Islam, and her name was changed to Maryam.
Special Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) HS Dhaliwal made this revelation while responding to media queries regarding Shahnawaz’s arrest. The police added that Shahnawaz, who was on NIA’s most wanted list, did mining engineering at the prestigious Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology. Dhaliwal said, “Shahnawaz is a mining engineer from Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology. His wife, Basanti Patel, is converted to Islam and is now known as Maryam.”
Earlier in the day, Shahnawaz alias Shafi Uzzama was arrested by the Delhi Police special cell from a hideout in Jaitpur, South Delhi. In the course of the operation, they also detained two other individuals who were wanted by the NIA.
Addressing the press briefing, Dhaliwal said, “Last month NIA declared an award on three persons who have alleged involvement in blast cases. Out of them, Mohammad Shahnawaz, the main accused, has been arrested with his two associates- Mohammad Rizwan Ashraf and Mohammad Arshad Warsi.”
He added that the security forces recovered bomb-making literature which was sent from Pakistan-based handlers, and other incriminating materials from Shahnawaz’s hideouts.
The Special CP (Special Cell) informed, “Several explosives-making materials including, plastic tubes, and iron pipes, were recovered. (Apart from it) Pistol, cartridges, and bomb-making literature sent from Pak-based handlers were (also) recovered.”
Shahnawaz is an engineer by profession and was wanted in the ISIS Pune module case. According to media reports, he is originally from Delhi but had moved to Pune. Two of his associates were arrested in a raid in July, while he managed to flee, returned to Delhi, and lived in a hideout.
According to the Delhi Police, the module planned to carry out terror attacks across India on instructions from foreign-based handlers.
Police stated that the initial interrogation revealed that the accused had conducted elaborate recce in Western Ghats, southern India, including Hubbali, Dharwad, and Ahmedabad in Gujarat to establish their hideouts.
The NIA had earlier announced a cash reward of Rs 3 lakh each for information about Shahnawaz and three other terror suspects namely Rizwan Abdul, Haji Ali, Abdulla Faiyaz Shaikh alias Diaperwala, and Talha Liyakat Khan.
According to media reports, Shahnawaz, Abdulla, and Rizwan were radicalised into joining the ISIS mission over the Telegram app and planned to engineer violence and terror in the country.