Suspected Jaish operative held in Bengal planned to target Suvendu, sabotage Jantar Mantar protest: STF

Addressing a press conference in Kolkata on Saturday, IG (Special Task Force) Gaurav Sharma claimed that Mondal also planned on sabotaging the Cockroach Janta Party-led students’ protest in Jantar Mantar, New Delhi.

“He was also given the task to procure a police uniform and visit Jantar Mantar for sabotage activities and creating disturbances,” said Sharma.

The STF said that apart from allegedly planning to target CM Adhikari, the accused was also tracking various other politicians.

“Hamim communicated with encrypted code (via WhatsApp and other apps). They (his handlers) gave him the task to track and gather information on the movement of the chief minister (Adhikari) as well as some other ministers and politicians. There was a plan to target the CM,” claimed Sharma.

The STF claimed that Mondal got in touch with Pakistan-based handlers through social media and communicated with them, who indoctrinated the accused.

Accomplice held, cops flag ‘honey-trap’

The STF on Saturday also arrested an alleged woman accomplice of the suspected Jaish operative Hamim Mondal. According to police sources, the woman, identified as Arpita Sarkar, was arrested in Jharkhand’s Sahibganj and brought to Bardhaman in West Bengal, where she was produced in court later in the day.

“After going through communications made by Hamim to others, we identified the woman. According to the police, while Mondal was allegedly engaged in collecting information on Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and some other ministers, Sarkar allegedly used to honey-trap individuals for information.

Both Mondal and Sarkar communicated through a special app”, the police said.

Asked about Mondal’s arrest, CM Adhikari had said on Friday, “It’s a sensitive issue. STF and senior police officers are handling the case. He may have international connections; the police are investigating.”

The sources said that before moving to Bardhaman, Mondal had been staying at a rented flat in Kolkata’s New Town, and before that in the Pilkhana area of Howrah.

Preliminary investigation suggests that he had been tracking the movements of CM Adhikari and the routes his convoy took.