NEW DELHI: Security agencies, already on high alert in view of the ongoing BRICS Summit here, have been asked to remain extra vigilant after intelligence agencies, for the first time, named Pakistan-based alleged ISI handler Shahzad Bhatti in a formal threat assessment submitted to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
The intelligence agencies have warned that Bhatti’s network could attempt low-intensity attacks or disruptive activities in Delhi and adjoining areas around the BRICS Summit 2026, sources said.
Following the alert, the MHA has advised security agencies in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to intensify surveillance and keep watch on suspicious movements, online recruitment efforts, attempts to procure arms and reconnaissance of critical installations, the sources said.
According to the sources, security agencies have also been asked to maintain a continuous watch for possible targeted firing, grenade attacks or other low-level disruptive acts. The agencies are keeping a 360-degree vigil on suspected local conduits who could potentially be activated by the ISI-backed network.
Intelligence sources are of the view that such attacks, even if limited in scale, could be aimed at creating panic, diverting security resources or testing the response of law enforcement agencies during the high-profile summit.
The latest assessment comes weeks after a major multi-state crackdown on what the government had described as the ISI-backed Shahzad Bhatti Network (SBN).
According to the MHA, security agencies carried out coordinated operations on August 12 across 14 states, detaining 253 people as part of an intelligence-led action to disrupt alleged plans for disturbances around Independence Day.
The operation covered Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Gujarat, Bihar, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala.
The MHA had said the raids led to the recovery of IEDs, grenades bearing Pakistan Ordnance Factory markings, pistols, live cartridges and CCTV cameras allegedly used for espionage.
More than 80 FIRs and over 200 arrests have cumulatively been recorded in cases linked to the network, with investigators invoking provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Arms Act, NDPS Act and Explosive Substances Act.
The MHA, in an official statement, had described the SBN as a Pakistan-based, ISI-backed terror syndicate allegedly linked to grenade, IED and petrol-bomb attacks as well as targeted killings in India. It had also alleged that members of the network paid local conduits to conduct reconnaissance of police, defence and religious sites and install CCTV cameras for surveillance.
However, despite the recent crackdown, agencies remain concerned about residual operatives or sympathisers attempting to revive parts of the network. With Delhi facing heightened security requirements for the BRICS Summit, officials are taking no chances and treating any attempted disruption as a potential effort to exploit vulnerabilities and stretch the security apparatus, the sources said.
