Uttar Pradesh ATS nabs ‘JeM man’ planning to eliminate Nupur Sharma | Lucknow News

Alleged Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) operative Mohammed Nadeem.

LUCKNOW: The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of UP Police on Friday arrested an alleged Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) operative Mohammed Nadeem from Saharanpur. He confessed that the outfit had assigned him the task of eliminating Nupur Sharma.
Former national spokesperson of BJP, Nupur Sharma, was headlines recently for her comment against the Prophet which led to violent protests in several parts of the state and beyond.
ADG (law and order) Prashant Kumar told TOI that Nadeem was arrested following specific intelligence inputs that he was in touch with banned Pakistan-based terror outfits, including JeM and Tahreek-e-Taliban, and that he was assigned the task of eliminating Nupur Sharma. “During initial quizzing, he confessed to having been assigned the task of killing Nupur Sharma,” Kumar said.
“While scanning the mobile phone seized from the possession of Nadeem, sleuths found a PDF document titled ‘Explosive Course Faith Force‘. Investigators are trying to find out what this document was all about,” the ADG said. “Apart from this, chats and voice messages from listed JeM operatives and members of Pakistan and Afghanistan-based terror organisations were also found, some of which date back to 2018,” the ADG (LO) said.
The ATS sources said investigations so far revealed that Nadeem used social media platforms like Telegram, Facebook Messenger and Club House to keep in touch with individuals across the border, using 30 virtual numbers on Voice Over Internet Protocol (VIOP) mode. Kumar said JeM terrorists gave training to Nadeem for a fidayeen attack. He was in touch with JeM operative Saifullah from Pakistan through social media.
“Nadeem also underwent a crash course in use of explosives and was in the process of collecting material to make improvised explosive devices to target government buildings and police premises,” said Prashant Kumar.
“Nadeem has also confessed that terrorists of JeM and other terrorist organizations operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan were inviting him to Pakistan for advance physical training,” he said. Nadeem had plans to visit Pakistan through a valid visa from where he was supposed to visit Egypt, Syria and Afghanistan.
ADG, ATS, Naveen Arora said ATS was in possession of certain names and details of individuals that Nadeem was in touch with, in India. He said Nadeem’s suspicious contacts will be questioned and action initiated against those found involved in unlawful activities.
Three days back, UPATS has also arrested one Sabauddin Azmi (24) from Mubarakpur in Azamgarh for planning an IED blast on Independence Day. The ATS also claimed that Azmi was in touch with a listed ISIS recruiter and had subscribed to ISIS’s official Telegram channel.