UP ATS arrests four men for ‘conspiring to topple govt through violent jihad’

The ATS claimed to have recovered Aadhar cards, PAN cards, credit cards and other items from them.

According to police, they received inputs that people from different districts of the state were allegedly planning to “overthrow the democratically elected government” in India through violent jihad and to impose Sharia law with arms after getting influenced by extremist organisations in Pakistan.

They were holding meetings at different locations and actively participating on social media groups, the officials said.

They were inciting people by sending audio chats and videos and were raising funds to procure weapons and other materials for terrorist activities, it was alleged. A plan was also made on these groups to carry out targeted killings of non-Muslim religious leaders in the near future, they said.

A case was registered in this regard at the ATS police station.

Police said during their interrogation the accused admitted that they were planning to wage jihad against non-believers to avenge alleged atrocities against Muslims. To achieve this, they were recruiting like-minded individuals by radicalising them and had identified several targets. The accused were involved in collecting, writing, and distributing violent jihadist literature and were actively working to form their own militant group for these activities, the officials claimed.