Arrested ‘AQIS operative’ planned terror attacks in India at behest of his Pakistan handlers: UP ATS

The ATS court had sent Bilal Khan, a resident of Papri village in Titaron Nakud area of Saharanpur district, on a nine-day remand on November 4.

Bilal is being interrogated at the ATS headquarters in Lucknow.

The agency had arrested him on September 15 following which he was sent to jail on court orders.

The ATS said that Bilal came under the radar of intelligence agencies after he was found to have made numerous phone calls to Pakistan numbers.

His calls were put on surveillance and an inquiry found he had been connecting with thousands of Pakistani individuals through social media. He had also joined many anti-India social media groups and was involved in hatching conspiracies to execute terror activities in the country to destabilise the Indian government, the ATS claimed.

The agency further stated Bilal had become an active member of the AQIS, a proscribed terror organisation, and received directives from his Pakistani handlers to wage jihad (religious war) against India and establish a state governed by Sharia law, the ATS further said.

Following the Pahalgam terror attack in which several tourists were shot dead, Bilal is believed to have glorified the terrorists killed in Operation Sindoor as “martyrs”, it has been alleged.

He also shared videos using abusive language against Indian armed forces, the ATS officials said, adding he circulated chats and videos promoting the idea of liberating Kashmir from India with the support of the Pakistani Army.

The agency said Al-Qaeda’s founding members, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, had appointed Asim Umar Sambhali (originally a resident of Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh) as the first chief of AQIS.

The agency said Bilal was highly influenced by Asim Umar Sambhali who was appointed as as the first chief of AQIS by Al-Qaeda’s founding members Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, and that he used to propagate and disseminate Sambhali’s jihadi principles and speeches.

In his social media group, Bilal paid tributes to Asim Umar, sharing a part of his speech among social media group members, the ATS said.

Bilal had taken the AQIS bayat (oath of allegiance) from his Pakistani handlers, the agency found during the investigation.

Bilal is questioned about his other associates and modules involved in terror plan and activities, the investigators said.