UP ATS has taken big action before the consecration of Ram temple in Ayodhya. The UP ATS intercepted provocative and misleading posts on social media amid the dreaded terrorist organisation Islamic State (ISIS) making strong efforts to set up its base in India. After this, the UP ATS raided 11 places in Maharashtra and recovered many objectionable materials.
UP STF (special task force) reached Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in Maharashtra to investigate the case. They raided the hideouts of ISIS-linked suspects. During this time, phones and laptops, jihadi literature etc. were seized from the suspects’ hideouts. However, the 11 suspects have absconded. The UP STF issued a notice to the houses of those suspects in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and called them to the UP ATS office in Lucknow between 15th January to 18th January for interrogation.
The UP ATS spotted a post on social media by an ISIS supporter named Saddam Sheikh. Saddam Sheikh had written in his post, “Muslims will have to wake up when the Constitution is changed. Jihad is in my blood. We will not be afraid of sacrifice. The elected government oppresses Muslims. I am angry with the Babri Masjid verdict. Desire for revenge. Osama bin Laden and Burhan Wani are my role models.”
Sheikh was arrested by UP ATS in July 2023.
When Saddam’s post was investigated, at least 11 such suspects were identified in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar by UP ATS. They were ideologically linked to the terrorist organisation ISIS. After this, the UP ATS raided Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in Maharashtra on 30th December 2023. The families of all these accused have been summoned to the UP ATS office in Lucknow between the 15th and 18th of January.
The ATS has registered a case against 11 people including Mirza Saif Baig, Abdul Wahid, Yasir, Ziauddin Siddiqui, Thor Bhan, SK Khalid, Tahir alias Sir, and Sadiq Habib. On receiving information about the sudden disappearance of these suspects from their homes, the ATS went there and raided their houses. However, no one was arrested. The mobile phones of some suspects have been recovered.
The security agencies of Maharashtra have also become alert due to the raid of UP ATS. According to media reports, the UP ATS claimed that a meeting of these terrorists was held on 17th September 2023 in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. In this, they discussed the strategy of attack on major places in UP and other places. After this meeting, they started spreading provocative messages on social media.
Kuldeep Tiwari, CO of UP ATS, lodged an FIR in this regard in October 2023. The ATS had written in its complaint that a plan was being hatched to spread panic in UP under the leadership of a person working at a pharmacy store in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. UP ATS chief Mohit Agarwal said that information was received about some people engaged in anti-national activities, after which action was taken.
According to a report by the Times of India, Kuldeep Tiwari said, “Our team, with the help of our counterparts from the Maharashtra ATS, has issued notices to 11 out of the 14 suspects named in the FIR (registered on October 11, 2023, with ATS police station at Gomti Nagar in Lucknow).” The accused in this case are booked under section 153 (promoting disharmony, enmity or feelings of hatred between different communities) of the IPC and under sections 13 (unlawful activities) and 18 (conspiracy concerning terror act) of the UAPA.
The FIR filed by the UP Anti-Terrorism Squad reveals that a pharmacy store salesman, allegedly a supporter of the prohibited terrorist group ISIS, has been consistently posting extremist content on his social media account. According to the document, the suspects were covertly organising meetings to orchestrate a terrorist attack.
An officer involved in the investigation said, “The case relates to alleged statements made during a secret meeting held on 17th September 2023, in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar to hatch a conspiracy to execute a sensational incident early in 2024.”
Maharashtra ATS officers reported that one such secret meeting, comprising around 15 men, mainly focused on the purported abuses during the 1948 Hyderabad Liberation Movement. An informant provided a video of this meeting first to the Telangana police, and then to the UP police. Notably, 17th September 2023 was the completion of the 75th year of the Hyderabad Liberation Day. Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and the whole Marathwada region of Maharashtra was part of an Islamic state of the Nizam of Hyderabad before 17th September 1948.