A so-called ‘routine alert’ by the Madhya Pradesh Police put its Uttar Pradesh counterpart on high alert with security being tightened in all districts on Saturday. The MP Police passed on Intelligence inputs that “anti-national elements” dressed like Hindu sants were planning to carry out “spectacular” attacks on prominent religious sites and public places in UP.
According to sources, inputs provided by the Madhya Pradesh Police confirm that 17-18 men have been trained by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence in Hindu religious practices and shlokas, and they might try to blend in with the local populace before carrying out terror strikes. “A group of 17-18 anti-national elements, trained in Hindu rituals, are planning a spectacular incident at prominent religious sites and other sensitive spots in the guise of sadhus,” the letter issued by the Additional Director General of MP Police read.
The alert comes roughly a month after Hindu hardliner leader Yogi Adityanath took over as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, and two days after UP’s anti-terrorist squad busted a suspected terror module along with sleuths from five other States.
A senior police official claimed here on Saturday evening that they tightened security in crowded places as well as important places of pilgrimage like Ayodhya, Mathura and Varanasi. Besides, he said, additional security personnel were deployed at Taj Mahal in Agra, the High Court in Allahabad and its lucknow Bench, the Assembly and secretariat buildings and other important Government offices in lucknow. In Gorakhpur also, extra force has been deployed to keep a close vigil on any kind of terror activity.
Reacting to the inputs, Director General of Police Sulkhan Singh, who took over as State Police head on Saturday morning, claimed that he had no specific information about inputs. “I do not have details of any such inputs right now but I can say with full confidence that our boys are fully capable and equipped to face any such challenge,” Singh said to the media persons.
A senior officer in the Intelligence headquarters, however, termed the inputs by the MP Police as a ‘routine exercise’ passed on by the Intelligence agencies from time to time. “Anyone involved in subversive activity mostly mingles with the crowd to execute such a crime. Ever since Yogi Adityanath became Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, sadhus suddenly turned active all over the State. So such an apprehension is always there that someone could do mischief in the guise of a sadhu. We are on top of it and have already taken necessary steps to counter them,” the officer added.
It may be mentioned that the MP Police letter referred to a 2016 incident in which eight suspected members of the banned Students Islamic Movement if India (SIMI) had also assumed the guise of Hindus to avoid attention. The men were killed after escaping from a jail in Madhya Pradesh last year.
The document also cited the example of Gaus Mohammad, a suspected terrorist who was found living under a Hindu name, Karan Khatri, in lucknow in March. “In February, Intelligence agencies in the State were tipped off about four dozen terrorists sneaking into UP through the porous border with Nepal,” read the letter.
Some of these people, Intelligence agencies believe, were specially trained by the ISI to fox security forces’ attention by their saffron clothes and knowledge of Hindu scriptures and practices. “In the past as well, we have information about ISI’s “Operation Krishna India” in which the agency would send its agents in the guise of Hindus saints,” the letter added.
Earlier this week, some Rssuspected’ taking photographs in Ayodhya under mysterious circumstances have been detained by local police for interrogation.