Gurgaon: Haryana Police’s STF has identified 135 people over the past two months who were allegedly in touch with Pakistan-based gangster-turned-terror operative Shehzad Bhatti or repeatedly engaged with his social media content.The probe comes after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a chargesheet in July against eight accused, including Bhatti, in connection with the IED car bomb blast at the parking area of Baldev Nagar police station in Ambala on Jan 11.Bhatti, the NIA probe found, has set up operational modules in India and tasked local operatives with arranging logistics and explosives to target police establishments. He also recruited and radicalised multiple youths through social media and encrypted communication channels.According to STF, videos shared by Bhatti on social media try to project an extensive network to draw vulnerable youths, particularly those drawn to gangster culture or seeking social clout. Cops suspect the network lured multiple youths with small payments, ranging from Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000, before assigning them tasks such as ferrying weapons.Over the past two months, STF teams questioned 122 of the 135 suspects and conducted raids across Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and UP. Teams also contacted social media users based abroad whose IDs were allegedly being used by relatives in India. In several cases, police found that people who had accepted money from Bhatti were never assigned any tasks, and they were let off with warnings.“Bhatti appears to be recruiting drug addicts, labourers and other economically vulnerable youths, initially paying them small amounts to gain their trust. Once that is done, they’re assigned tasks such as delivering weapons to specified locations. Many act as couriers or sleeper cells without knowing who will ultimately receive or use those weapons,” a senior Haryana Police officer said.Pakistan-based gangs, he said, are allegedly smuggling weapons into India through border states, and also target vulnerable youth in those areas to supply arms to gangs.Cops said the recruitment process typically begins with identifying targets on social media, gradually drawing them into organised criminal networks without revealing the larger conspiracy or the identities of those controlling the operations.STF has now shared details of the identified persons with central agencies and alerted district police units, asking them to verify possible criminal links and take action wherever required. Its specialised social media surveillance unit is also tracking the online activity of Haryana-based gangs and cross-border networks that allegedly use similar recruitment tactics.Police said the unit is monitoring accounts linked to such terror operatives, as well as social media networks of local gangsters, including Himanshu Bhau, Rohit Godara, Deepak Nandal, Randeep Malik and Kaushal Chaudhary.STF is also analysing the digital links of people in touch with these gangsters online to determine whether any have moved beyond online contact into actual logistical or criminal activity.A senior officer said gangsters based abroad avoid deploying their own associates to collect or transport smuggled weapons, since that could expose them to scrutiny by central agencies and risk cases under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). “Gangsters abroad don’t send their own members to collect smuggled weapons that could bring them under the radar. Instead, couriers recruited through social media are promised money or foreign visas and asked to deliver weapons to a designated location. They often don’t know who will eventually use them, or why,” the officer said.
