Dr Shaheen Shahid, who was arrested after police found explosives in her Swift Dzire earlier this month, has turned out to be the mastermind of terror attacks planned for December 6.
Codenamed D-6, attacks on six cities were plotted as a revenge for the Babri Masjid demolition on its anniversary on December 6, said reports. The authorities are yet to figure out which are these six cities.
Members of the white-collar terror module operating from Faridabad's Al Falah University revealed that Dr Shaheen, whom they called 'Madam Surgeon', was coordinating these attacks since 2021. Handwritten diaries recovered by investigators revealed that Dr Shaheen was involved not just in recruitment and logistics of explosives and money, but also helmed target selection and ensured secure communication.
Who are Madam X and Z?
Dr Shaheen had saved two contacts under the names "Madam X" and "Madam Z", who texted and called her frequently, reported NDTV. In one text, "Madam X" wrote to Shaheen, "Medicine should not be lacking for the operation." Investigators believed that 'medicine' was a code word for explosives while operation meant terror attack.
A text from "Madam Z" read, "Madam Surgeon, please pay more attention to Operation Hamdard," which is believed to be the recruitment of women in to Jaish-e-Mohammed. Earlier reports revealed that Dr Shaheen was tasked with setting up Jaish women wing and was in close contact with top leaders of Masood Azhar's Pakistan-based terror outfit.
These included Sadia Azhar, sister of JeM chief Masood and wife of 1999 Kandahar hijacking mastermind Yusuf Azhar, and Afira Bibi, the wife of Umar Farooq, the mastermind of the 2019 Pulwama attack. Yusuf was killed in Operation Sindoor strike on JeM's Bahawalpur headquarters in May while Farooq, a nephew of Masood Azhar, was killed during a 2019 encounter in Dachigam National Park in Jammu and Kashmir, a month after the Pulwama attack.
Afira reportedly joined Jamaat-ul-Mominat weeks before the deadly blast killed over a dozen people near Delhi's Red Fort metro station. She was part of the JeM women wing's Shura council and worked under Sadia Azhar. With the help of Al Falah University employee Dr Shaheen, Afira recruited women into their multi-state terror network. However, the authorities have not confirmed whether "Madam X" and "Madam Z" are Sadia Azhar and Afira Bibi.
The arrested terror suspects earlier revealed that module members travelled to Turkey in March 2022 to meet ISI handler Abu Ukasha, a top Jaish-e-Mohammed leader involved in the group's operations abroad. The December 6 attack plan was given "green signal" during this meeting, according to officials cited by The Times of India.
Her name reportedly appeared several times in the financial trails, including a Rs 20 lakh hawala channel that was traced back to a JeM handler.
How Dr Shaheen Shahid was radicalised
The investigators are also looking into her time at GSVM Medical College in Kanpur, from where she disappeared in December 2013 after handing over her work responsibilities. Though she informed the college that she would return by January 2014, she never returned.
It has been revealed that she was in touch with an Indian-origin doctor abroad since 2010, following which is is believed to have been exposed to extremist ideology and radicalised . Her former colleague at Kanpur college said she suddenly started wearing hijab and often mentioned about moving abroad.
In 2021, she told a relative, "I have lived enough for myself. Now it's times to repay the debt of my community". This, according to officials, shows Shaheen was fully radicalised four years ago.