Delhi’s Special Cell police have skilfully foiled a major terror plot targeting the national capital. Investigations suggest that important locations in the otherwise heavily secured city had been marked as targets to trigger unrest. Acting on prior intelligence inputs, Delhi Special Cell police swung into action and busted the conspiracy, successfully arresting four accused involved in the terror plan. Probe revealed the hand of Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI behind the plot, with police identifying Pakistan-based ISI handler Shehzad Bhatti as the mastermind who devised the entire attack plan. Bhatti reportedly maintained constant contact with the accused in India through phone calls and social media networks from across the border, providing regular directions on which locations in Delhi to target and how to carry out the attacks.
Of the four arrested, three belong to Punjab while one is from Delhi. The Punjab-based accused are believed to have procured weapons through cross-border routes and maintained contacts with local gangs, while the Delhi-based accused allegedly played a key role in arranging local transport, scouting target locations in advance, and relaying the information to the Pakistani handler. Police said the four had jointly planned a large-scale terror strike in Delhi. During their arrest, police seized a huge cache of weapons and communication equipment, including two sophisticated foreign pistols and 9 live bullets, along with 5 mobile phones used to secretly communicate with the Pakistani handlers. Based on call data, chat history, and location details retrieved from these phones, police are gathering further information, and Delhi Special Cell is probing the group’s wider network of contacts.