Suspected Pakistani national among 2 held by West Bengal STF; ISI links under probe

The West Bengal STF nabbed two persons, including a suspected Pakistani national from near the India-Bangladesh border, officials said on Wednesday.

Rana Rauf alias Wahab Alam, a resident of Faisalabad in Pakistan, was arrested from Habra in North 24 Parganas district late on Tuesday, they said.

Acting on a tip-off, STF personnel conducted a search in Habra near Bangaon and apprehended Rauf, they said.

Investigators suspect that Rauf has links with Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI and are examining his activities, contacts and movements in India, officials said.

The other person, arrested from Topsia in Kolkata also on Tuesday, allegedly had direct contact with Rauf and had assisted him in obtaining Indian ID cards, they said, without disclosing his identity.

"We received specific information about Rauf's movement towards the Bongaon border, and arrested him from Jessore Road in Habra. We are investigating his alleged links with the ISI, his use of Indian identity documents and whether he was trying to cross into Bangladesh," an STF officer said.

According to investigators, Rauf entered India illegally through Nepal in 2012.

"He had stayed in Nepal for some time before entering India and subsequently settling in West Bengal. Several Indian identity cards were recovered from his possession. An Aadhaar card found with him had a Topsia address," he said.

Rauf had been tracking the movements of various trains in the country and the armed forces, officials said.

"He is also suspected of passing information relating to the railways and the Indian Navy to Pakistan. We are also trying to ascertain what kind of information he was collecting," the officer said.

"The person arrested from Topsia is being questioned to establish the extent of his association with Rauf and whether others were involved," he said.

The STF is also investigating whether the accused were planning any "subversive activity" ahead of Independence Day, he added.

Investigators obtained important information while questioning Hamim Mondal, which subsequently helped them trace Rauf, the officer said.

Mondal was among three people arrested in the module busted in Purba Bardhaman in late July. The other two were his girlfriend Arpita Sarkar and one Aditya Singh.

The STF had alleged that they were in regular contact with the ISI and a network linked to Pakistan-based gangster Shahzad Bhatti.

STF officers had also suspected that Sarkar was being used in a honey-trap operation to obtain sensitive information from politicians, ministers and bureaucrats.

"The state probe agency is now examining whether Hamim and Rauf had any direct contact," the officer said.

The STF is also probing Rauf's possible links with banned militant organisations and the nature of his alleged association with the ISI, officials said.

The arrests have also brought under scrutiny the security of the international border and the network involved in creating fake Indian identity documents, they said.

Following his arrest, Rauf was taken to Habra hospital for a medical examination on Tuesday night, officials said.