LUCKNOW: Over 800 individuals, all contacts of Tufail Maqsood, 34, who was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) from Varanasi on 21 May on charges of spying for Pakistan, are under the radar of the agency. All the 800 people were added to 19 WhatsApp groups operated by Tufail.
Notably, UP ATS had arrested Tufail Maqsood from Varanasi, Mohammad Harun, 45, of Delhi, from Noida on 21 May, and Rampur resident Shahzad Wahab, 35, in the same connection from Moradabad on 18 May. All three are currently in ATS custody for interrogation.
The details of all 800 contacts were retrieved from Tufail’s phone. An ATS source claimed that Tufail had been operating 19 WhatsApp groups to stay in touch with his modules across seven eastern UP districts, including Varanasi, Jaunpur, Mau, Bhadohi, Mirzapur, Chandauli, and Ghazipur.
He was allegedly involved in radicalising them in the name of religion by posting inflammatory speeches of clerics and terror group ‘leaders’ from across the border.
Establishing his links to Gajwa-e-Hind, Tufail used to post content related to “establishing Muslim rule in India before 2047 and bringing Shariat law into force in the country”.
Moreover, he was being sent such content by a Pakistani woman, Nafisa, whom he had been in touch with for the past four months after connecting with her through social media platforms, said the sources.
The social media profile of Nafisa revealed that she had been in touch with Indian youths, as many as 240, including six from Bareilly, Moradabad, Rampur, Kannauj, Lucknow, and Varanasi.
“It is suspected that ISI had been using Nafisa to connect with Indian youths and radicalise them to rope them in for spying ring and other nefarious activities,” said a source.
Nafisa had built a network of Indian youths and was spreading hatred by inciting Muslim youths in the name of religion and alleged atrocities on minorities in the country. Tufail was among the members of her network active in India.
Earlier, the ATS had claimed that Tufail Maqsood, a resident of Jaitpura, Varanasi, was in touch with at least 600 Pakistani mobile numbers and shared sensitive information related to India’s security.
The agency stated that Tufail is highly radicalised, as he used to share videos of banned Pakistan-based terror outfit Tehreek-e-Labbaik’s leader Maulana Shaad Rizvi and content related to “revenge for Babri mosque demolition”.