Delhi Police on Friday issued an alert after the driver of a taxi hired by three unidentified persons from Pathankot was found dead in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh. A high-level alert was also sounded across the country as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the police nabbed 14 terror suspects from Hyderabad, Mumbai, lucknow and different parts of Karnataka.
The taxi driver, identified as Vijay Kumar, was found dead on Wednesday in Kangra. His taxi was missing.
“A white coloured Alto taxi No. HP 01D 2440 was hired from Pathankot by three unknown persons. The driver of the taxi, Vijay Kumar from Gaggal Village in Kangra was found dead on January 20, 2016 at the Kalta bridge, Dist. Kangra. The Alto car is missing. Search operations are on. Stay Alert!” the tweet on Delhi Police’s official handle read.
Asked about the threat perception, Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi urged people in the national Capital to remain alert without disclosing any further details, citing security concerns.
The alert was issued in the backdrop of the attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot where terrorists had first killed a taxi driver and made off with his car before launching the strike.
Delhi Police has sought the help of media houses in finding the car and spreading the alert message through retweets.
The Delhi Police also tweeted photos of the suspects who carjacked and allegedly killed the driver and warned the public by promoting hash tags including ‘#SayNoToTerror’ and ‘#SafeTogether.’
The disappearance of the Alto follows the theft of the official vehicle of an Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Inspector-General in the Capital on January 20. The car was stolen from outside his residence in Noida’s Sector-23 early in the morning.
The theft of the officer’s car had grabbed the attention of national security agencies as vehicles with beacons have been used in the past to gain easy access to a target and carry out terror attacks, including in the Parliament House and Pathankot airbase attacks.
Meanwhile, the Union Home Ministry on Friday rejected media reports of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) links with 14 terror suspects who were apprehended by the NIA from different parts of the country. The Home Ministry spokesperson said five of them were arrested and nine of them were under detention. All of them belonged to Indian Mujahideen-linked online radical groups and their conduits. These suspects were picked up by the NIA, following the leads it got during the questioning of four persons who were arrested from Haridwar on January 19.
“The reports that they were linked with the ISIS and were planning to carry out strikes in Delhi are wrong. The people apprehended by the NIA are believed to have links with Indian Mujahideen fugitive Shafi Parmar, who is suspected to be operating on the social media by the name of Yousaf,” said the MHA spokesperson on Friday evening.
The spokesperson said these 14 people, under the leadership of one Mutabir Mushtaq Shaik from Mumbra, Mumbai, were planning to organize training camps and meetings of radical elements. Shaik is among the five people arrested by the NIA.
“The NIA was tracking these online radicalized elements for the past five-six months. The four persons arrested were also planning to cause blasts in some trains passing through Haridwar and some areas in Har Ki Pauri. The interrogation of these persons led to the NIA crackdown in various cities,” he said.
Of the 14, three persons are from Mumbai, four each from Hyderabad and Bangalore, and one each from Mangalore, Tumkur and lucknow. The Indian Mujahideen fugitive was involved in several blast cases of 2006 to 2008 and he is now engaged in connecting and building radicalized elements on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and other chat windows.
“The NIA has currently arrested five people and the rest of the nine people are being interrogated. Materials for improvised explosive devices and certain communications regarding weapon purchases were found from these people, who are in the age group of 25-30. These people were also engaged in some terror plans in some other cities near their localities. There is no terror thereat to Delhi from these people,” said the MHA spokesperson.