With the arrest of suspected lashkar-e-Tayyeba (leT) operative Mohammad Shahid, the Delhi Police on Friday claimed to have foiled a conspiracy to attack the national Capital during the Assembly elections. The conspiracy was at an “advanced stage” before it was intercepted by the Special Cell. Mohammad Shahid, the hardened leT cadre, was arrested from his house on Monday after police trailed him for more than a week. He was working as a Maulvi in Noorani Masjid in Choti Mewli village in Nuh district of Mewat region, Haryana. He is a permanent resident of Bazeedpur village of the same area.
“Information was received towards the end of November that a known leT terrorist, Javed Baluchi of Pakistan, had been in touch with a sub-module in Mewat and a conspiracy to carry out a terror attack on the national Capital was being hatched,” said Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell). This information was further developed and it was learnt that a member of this module is residing in Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan. The Special Cell investigated the matter and Shahid was arrested, police said.
During interrogation, Shahid allegedly disclosed that he had joined the leT module about six-seven months ago and since then, was being handled by local Mewat-based handlers. “He further told us that leT had made inroads into the Mewat region and his local handlers, who are at present absconding, were in touch with senior Pakistan-based leT commanders and were at an advanced stage of planning a terror attack in the national Capital. The responsibility entrusted to Shahid by his handlers was arranging logistics and communication for the attack,” said Yadav.
According to Delhi Police sources, the terror module was spread across Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan. Baluchi, who is a top leT commander, was the handler of this module. Shahid was introduced to him by a fellow Mewati and the duo had also gone to Pakistan; “to meet him,” sources said. Shahid came under the police scanner after investigators traced Baluchi’s calls to his mobile phone and even recorded their conversations. Special Cell officers have also recovered a diary from Shahid, which gives details of the terror attack being planned in prominent market places of the national Capital, sources said.
The police said that the remaining members of this terrorist module, who have gone underground since the arrest of Shahid, are being identified and traced. Further investigations, into the matter, are on.