Three persons arrested earlier this month by the Surat Police for allegedly threatening Hindu leaders were in contact with a Pakistan-based handler named 'Dogar', Gujarat Police said on Thursday. A terror suspect named Zia ul Haq, arrested recently by the Uttar Pradesh Anti Terrorist Squad, was part of the same module and took orders from Dogar, Surat Police Commissioner Anupam Singh Gehlot said. The Surat Police Crime Branch, on May 4, had arrested a cleric, Mohammed Sohel alias Maulvi Abubakar Timol, from Surat for allegedly hatching a conspiracy to kill Hindu Sanatan Sangh president Upadesh Rana and threatening other Hindu leaders like BJP's Telangana MLA Raja Singh and former party spokesperson Nupur Sharma. Last week, Shehnaz alias Mohammed Ali Mohammed Sabir was arrested from Muzaffarpur in Bihar in the case. According to the police, the maulvi was in regular contact with Shehnaz and hatched a conspiracy to kill the Hindu leaders for allegedly spreading hatred against Prophet Mohammed. During their questioning, the name of Raza alias Shakil Sattar Shaikh came up and he was arrested by the Surat Police from Nanded in Maharashtra on May 13. "We found that the Maulvi had two voter ID cards and two birth certificates. Shehnaz is a native of Bihar but works at Lahan city in Nepal. Besides an Aadhaar card, he also had a certificate declaring him a Nepalese citizen," said Gehlot. "The three men were in touch with Pakistani handler Dogar and used to give threats to Hindu leaders using 17 virtual numbers and 42 email IDs. Raza used a Pakistani virtual number, provided by Dogar, to give death threats to Hindu leaders. Some other Pakistani handlers were also part of the network," he added. “Dogar and his team used to keep a watch on social media and identify people in India who commented against any Hindu leader. They went on to induct them in their module. Dogar's Gujarat module included Maulvi, Shehnaz and Raza,” Gahlaut said. The module allegedly threatened Rana, Nupur Sharma, social worker Suresh Rajput, blogger Shabnam Shaikh, Shiv Sena Hind chief Nishant Sharma, a Shiv Sena leader from Punjab called Amit Arora and Bajrang Dal leader Kuldeep Soni. To instill fear, the accused used to send a photograph of a man holding an AK-47 rifle to their targets, said Gehlot, adding that a detailed investigation was underway into whether the accused received any funds from Pakistan. "Zia ul Haq, a terror suspect arrested by UP ATS, was part of the same network and he used to take orders from the same Dogar," said Gehlot.
