Averting a major terror attack, the Rajasthan ATS, on Wednesday, busted a terror module and arrested three people. Five others are being questioned by the investigating officials.
The accused, Altmash Khan (26), Jhuber (41), and Sephu Khan (36), were arrested from Chittor Garh in Rajasthan and have been booked under various sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
The Central agencies are now looking at the possible connections of this module with a big terrorist outfit that may be planning strikes. The arrested accused are from a radical outfit named Al Sufa, a group in Ratlam whose name had come up during investigation into the murder case of a Hindu leader in Madhya Pradesh.
Incidentally, Ratlam also came on the radar of intelligence agencies when the Intelligence Bureau busted an ISIS module in 2015, that hatched a conspiracy to target BJP and RSS leaders. The MHA had asked the state government to hand over the case to NIA. The probe revealed involvement of some Indian Mujahideen leaders, based in Karachi, who were using the internet to radicalise youth from Rajasthan.
The Rajasthan ATS got in touch with the National Investigation Agency as well as Intelligence Bureau to dig deeper into the links of the three arrested persons with any major terrorist outfit and possible inter-state linkages. It is likely that further investigation may throw more light on the other cases under investigation by the NIA.
The latest operation was carried out by Rajasthan ATS, in coordination with their counterparts in Madhya Pradesh. The anti-terrorism squad recovered six kg explosive material, two more packets containing another six kg of coarse explosive material, three watches with Duracell batteries, three containers of wire, one plastic box containing six bulbs and wire and one Bolero car.
The ATS is coordinating with other states to keep a close eye on potential terror suspects linked to this module.
