Jaipur/Jaisalmer: A Pakistan-based ISI handler used romance and money as enticements to recruit a 21-year-old woman from Punjab’s Gurdaspur for the Nov 3 blast on railway tracks in the Ramsinghpur area of Sriganganagar district, investigators said Sunday.Rajasthan Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and Sriganganagar police, assisted by Punjab Counter Intelligence, had arrested Mahakdeep Kaur and Davinder Singh, 22, both residents of Gurdaspur, Saturday. Two foreign-made pistols, 46 live cartridges and Rs 30,000 in cash were recovered from their possession.ATS officials said the Nov 3 blast on the railway tracks near 50 GB village was masterminded by a Pakistan-based ISI handler identified as Shah, who assigned the target, arranged funds and guided the accused through the operation.
The two accused were allegedly paid Rs 2.23 lakh, including Rs one lakh in cash and the remainder through bank transfers.ADG (ATS) Dinesh M N said the handler’s objective was to spread panic in Sriganganagar and across Rajasthan, with investigations ongoing as to whether the intention had been to target a moving train.Saturday’s arrests came after investigators analysed nearly five lakh call records and questioned more than 400 people, including suspected Pakistan-linked individuals, officials said. Inputs received from Central investigative agencies initially led ATS teams to Punjab, where the two accused were eventually traced with help from Punjab Counter Intelligence.Investigators said Kaur came in contact with Shah after her husband, Karanveer Singh, was arrested in Punjab in a drug trafficking case. Although Kaur and her husband were reportedly living separately, they are not legally divorced.Her online trail led investigators to Shah and another Pakistan-based operative, codenamed Chacha. Officials said Kaur carried out the Nov 3 explosion based on their instructions and with assistance from Davinder.
The case has revived concerns within intelligence agencies about Pakistan-based operatives grooming women online for terror and espionage assignments, based on the understanding that they would attract less suspicion.ATS has drawn parallels between Kaur’s recruitment and that of Jaipur resident Babita Dhankar alias Khadija, who was arrested in June for alleged links with terror outfits across the border, including Jaish-e-Mohammad.“Kaur, like Babita, was wooed online through romantic overtures and promises of money and a better life,” an official close to the investigation said.Dinesh MN said intelligence assessments in the wake of Operation Sindoor showed a rise in social media-based recruitment by Pakistani operatives. He said ISI operatives were stalking lonely women online to try and draw them into terror plots.Investigators said Kaur and Davinder first visited the Ramsinghpur area on Oct 6. They returned, either on Oct 12 or 13, with a timed explosive device supplied by Shah, but it failed to go off.They were successful only on their third visit to the site on Nov 3. This time they were carrying another timer-fitted IED, also believed to have been supplied by Shah, which exploded on the railway tracks around 9.45pm.“Kaur was following instructions from her handlers. She was told exactly where to pick up the explosives from and where to plant them on the tracks,” Dinesh said.Police are now investigating how the explosives entered India, who delivered them and what kind of other local support the network received, if any.They are preferred for terror and espionage assignments based on the belief that they would attract less suspicionInvestigators say she was entrapped with enticements of romance, money and the promise of a better life
