Bengal terror plot: How did Hamim Mondal plan to attack CM Suvendu Adhikari? Probe reveals fresh details

After suspected Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) operative Hamim Mondal was arrested by a Special Task Force (STF) of the West Bengal police on Thursday night, crucial details about his alleged plot to attack CM Suvendu Adhikari have come to light.

According to the Bengal STF, Mondal's phone showed that he had allegedly ordered police clothes and costumes resembling Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) uniforms online, in a bid to get closer to CM Adhikari's inner circle.

This possible motive to infiltrate the police and CRPF teams around the CM is one of the latest developments in the STF probe into Mondal, as per local media reports.

The probe had earlier revealed that Mondal had been tracking all of CM Adhikari's movements—especially all the routes his convoy took when he was returning to his residence, as well as his schedules.

It is also looking at whether this reconnaissance could have taken place when Mondal had been living at New Town on the outskirts of Kolkata, where CM Adhikari lives.

The STF then analysed his mobile tower locations and other evidence on his phone to reveal that the accused allegedly had been sending this information about the CM to his handlers in the JeM.

This comes after the STF arrested Mondal from his rented accommodation at Renaissance Complex in Burdwan town late on Thursday night.

The police noted that Hamim Mondal—earlier called Hamid Mondal by the local police and then rectified—had been living at the Burdwan flat at around the time that the BJP won the 2026 Assembly elections.

However, neighbouring flat owners claimed that the man, who is a native of Kusumgram in the Purba Burdwan district, had been living in the Burdwan flat for about one and a half years with his family, a PTI report said, citing sources.

The police have also revealed that months before moving to Burdwan, Mondal had left his job of barcode-tagging ready-made clothes at a garments unit in Howrah's Pilkhana area.

Apart from his suspected link to the terror outfit's module run by Shahzad Bhatti and associate Azmal Gujjar, he is also said to be close to Sajjad Bhat, one of the masterminds of the February 2019 Pulwama attack that led to the deaths of 40 Indian military personnel.

"This is an extremely sensitive matter. There are international links. It concerns national security. The STF is investigating the case and examining the information recovered from his mobile phone and other electronic devices," CM Adhikari told reporters.

The police are also examining whether Mondal had any role in the threats that BJP minister Umesh Rai allegedly received recently.

Rai had claimed in a police complaint that he had received extortion calls from a person claiming to have links to a "Pakistani agency", who had also threatened to kidnap his son, and attack a BJP office in Kolkata.

Mondal was produced before the Burdwan court on Friday by the six-member STF team, after which he was remanded to 14 days of police custody.