Dehradun: The Special Task Force (STF) of Uttarakhand Police arrested a man from Gadarpur in Udham Singh Nagar district during a late-night raid on Wednesday for allegedly planning anti-national activities while maintaining contact with a Pakistani handler based in Malaysia, officials said on Thursday.
The accused, identified as Mohammed Salauddin, was taken into custody after months of monitoring his social media activities by the STF's cyber patrolling cell, police reported. Sharing details of the operation, STF SSP Ajai Singh stated that after gathering sufficient cyber evidence, an STF team raided Salauddin's residence late on Wednesday night and arrested him.
“During interrogation, he admitted to being in touch with a Pakistani handler based in Malaysia. He was also found sharing propaganda content related to terrorist outfits such as Al-Qaeda and Jaish-e-Mohammed through social media platforms including Instagram, Signal, and Telegram with some youths in an attempt to radicalise them,” Singh said.
The officer further alleged that Salauddin had been discussing the “safe storage of explosives and their transportation in what appeared to be an attempt to plan a major attack in the country.”
“His activities on social media were anti-national and posed a challenge to the sovereignty and security of the country. Investigators also recovered sensitive information from his mobile phone, from which some chats had earlier been deleted. During the operation, the police team seized a pistol, four detonators, and seven bullets from his possession,” the SSP added.
A case has been registered against Salauddin under BNS sections 152 (acts endangering the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India) and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy), along with relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act. “Efforts are on to nab others involved in the crime,” Singh concluded.
