BHOPAL: A key member of an alleged terror group that planned to carry out serial bomb blasts in Jaipur in 2022 was arrested in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh, on Wednesday.
The arrested man, identified as Feroz alias Sabji, was one of the five founding members of the Al-Suffah group based in Ratlam. He had a bounty of Rs 5 lakh on him, declared by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), for his role in the failed Jaipur blasts plot. He was caught at his sister Rehana’s house in the Anand Nagar Colony area of Ratlam.
Acting on a tip-off about Feroz’s whereabouts, multiple police teams raided the location. When he tried to escape, the police caught him. "We ultimately nabbed him when he tried to flee," said Ratlam district police superintendent Amit Kumar.
Feroz was responsible for managing funds for the extremist group Al-Suffah. The group was busted in 2022 when a joint operation by Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh’s anti-terror squads led to the arrest of several members.
In March-April 2022, police in Nimbahera, Rajasthan, arrested three men—Jubair Pathan, Saifullah, and Altmash Khan—who were all from Ratlam. They were caught with 12 kg of explosives and materials to make bombs for the planned Jaipur attacks.
After questioning these men, the police arrested the mastermind, Imran Khan, and two others from Ratlam with help from Madhya Pradesh’s anti-terror squad.
Since the case involved multiple states, the NIA took over the investigation in 2022. So far, 10 out of 11 accused have been arrested from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, but Feroz had been on the run for three years.
The NIA had declared a Rs 5 lakh reward for his arrest, considering the busted terror module was linked to both ISIS sympathizers and Al-Suffah operatives. If they had not been caught in time, they could have carried out major attacks in Jaipur using lone-wolf attackers.
Al-Suffah started as an NGO focused on social and charity work but later became involved in violent extremist activities.
The group’s first known crime took place in 2014. Just hours after an attack on Yasmin Sherani, the opposition leader of the Ratlam Municipal Corporation, members of the group killed Bajrang Dal leader Kapil Rathore and his aide Pukhraj near the Ratlam City bus stand.