Surat: The local police had arrested three individuals in the past few weeks for allegedly threatening Hindu leaders, as per the police these individuals were in communication with a Pakistan-based handler named ‘Dogar’. Surat Police Commissioner Anupam Singh Gehlot stated on Thursday that a terror suspect named Zia ul Haq, recently apprehended by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad, was also linked to the same network and received instructions from Dogar.

On May 4, the Surat Police Crime Branch detained Mohammed Sohel, also known as Maulvi Abubakar Timol, on charges of conspiring to assassinate Hindu Sanatan Sangh president Upadesh Rana and threatening other Hindu leaders such as BJP’s Telangana MLA Raja Singh and former party spokesperson Nupur Sharma. Subsequently, one Mohammed Ali Mohammed Sabir, was apprehended from Muzaffarpur, Bihar, last week and then later on May 13th, another suspect named Raza, also known as Shakil Sattar Shaikh, was arrested from Nanded, Maharashtra.

Gehlot revealed that the Maulvi possessed two voter ID cards and birth certificates, while Shehnaz, originally from Bihar, resided in Lahan city, Nepal, and held both an Aadhaar card and Nepalese citizenship certificate.

The trio remained in contact with the Pakistani handler Dogar, utilizing 17 virtual numbers and 42 email IDs to issue threats to Hindu leaders. Raza utilized a Pakistani virtual number, provided by Dogar, to intimidate Hindu leaders. The top cop further mentioned that Dogar and his associates monitored social media to identify individuals in India who criticized Hindu leaders and recruited them into their network. The module, comprising the Maulvi, Shehnaz, and Raza, allegedly targeted various individuals, including Upadesh Rana, Nupur Sharma, social worker Suresh Rajput, blogger Shabnam Shaikh, Shiv Sena Hind chief Nishant Sharma, Amit Arora from Shiv Sena Punjab, and Bajrang Dal leader Kuldeep Soni.

To instill fear, the accused sent photographs of a man brandishing an AK-47 rifle to their targets. Gehlot stated that investigations were ongoing to determine if the accused received funding from Pakistan. DeshGujarat