New Delhi: A day after three youth with alleged links to terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) were arrested, investigators on Thursday said the trio was initially inspired by the dreaded ISIS and later shifted their ideological leaning.
The three were planning terror strikes in Delhi, according to the police.
Special Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Arvind Deep said that Sajid, believed to be the one heading the ring, was self-radicalised and propagated ideology which was in line with that of the Islamic State(ISIS) until he came in touch with a cyber-entity 'Talha'.
Investigators believe that Talha is close to JeM head Maulana Masood Azhar, who is wanted by India in connection with 2001 Parliament attack case and the terror strike on Pathankot IAF base in January this year.
However, the manner how they were convinced to shift their leaning from ISIS to JeM and under what circumstances is something that has not come clear yet after 24 hours of interrogation.
Officals privy to the investigation said that Sajid, who was an amateur dancer and had unsuccesfully auditioned for dance reality shows in Delhi, came in touch with the other two accused Sameer and Shakir Ansari through a social networking site.
It was Sajid who introduced Talha to Ansari and was about to get passport for him to travel to Pakistan, officials claimed, adding that their source of funding is yet to be ascertained.
All communication among the accused initially took place through social media before they jumped to secured communication system like chat rooms. They had a Whatsapp group of their own and all 13 persons, of which three have been arrested and 10 detained for questioning, are members there, a senior officials said.
Apart from data shared through internet and an 8 GB pen drive recovered from the possession of the accused, investigators are also scrutinising books which the trio possessed.
The books include Urdu and Hindi titles like Mujahid ki Lalkar, Duniyabhar mein Musalmano ka Katle aam, Tareekh-e-Hind, Jihad ki Sabililah, Apka Mustakbil and
hand-writted notes on verses from the Holi Quran, the official said.
The police had claimed to have recovered from Sajid's residence one live improvised explosive device (IED), one damaged IED and materials like batteries, timer devices, pipes, wires, adhesives and over 250 grams of suspected explosives in powdered form, all sent to a forensic lab now.
The three youths were produced before a court which remanded them in 10 days' police custody. As many as 13 persons were picked up by Special Cell in a late night operation on Tuesday, and three of them were arrested yesterday morning for planning terror strikes in different parts of the national capital, especially busy markets.
The three identified as Sajid Ahmad, Sameer Ahmed and Shakir Ansari were arrested while fabricating an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), official sources said, adding that their movement was being continuously monitored by the central intelligence agencies for the past one year.
The three have been arrested under provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC.
While Sajid and Sameer hail from Delhi-NCR, Ansari is a resident of Deoband in Uttar Pradesh. The three had been learning to put together IEDs over the past fortnight and on Tuesday, Sajid got injured while making the explosive device. His left hand was damaged when it went off accidentally. Sajid had called up Sameer immediately after the explosion and the latter rushed to his house.
This information, passed to the investigators by a source close to the ring, prompted police to swing into action and conduct a series of raids.
