3 ISIS men planning to strike Delhi held, one has a ‘love jihad’ past

The Delhi Police Special Cell and Assam Police in a joint operation on Monday busted an ISIS-inspired terror module and apprehended three operatives planning an attack in the Capital.

One of the three ISIS-inspired terror operatives arrested by Delhi Police in Assam was involved in a love jihad controversy seven months back.

The Delhi Police Special Cell and Assam Police in a joint operation on Monday busted an ISIS-inspired terror module and apprehended three operatives planning an attack in the Capital. Explosives and raw materials used to manufacture bombs were recovered from them.

Ranjeet Islam, Mukadir Islam and Luit Zameel Zaman were arrested from Goalpara in Assam while on way to plant an IED at Raas Mela, a local fair, in Dudhnoi village of the district. Police believe the three, all residents of Goalpara district, are inspired from the Bangladesh module of ISIS.

Police sources told India Today that Zameel had an affair with a Hindu girl in his hometown Krishnai in Goalpara district. After the affair came to light, some locals called it love jihad and circulated the couple’s photos on social media. As word spread about the affair in the town, the couple had to call it off. So much so that police had to be involved.

Zameel then came in contact with module leader Ranjeet. He became radicalised and learnt making bombs through videos posted by ISIS on Telegram, a cloud-based instant messaging and voice-over service. He spent his days reading about Islam and jihad on social media.

Police sources say they have strong evidence to believe that after Assam, the accused had planned to strike some religious places in Delhi-NCR. They say the trio was in touch with some ISIS-inspired people in the Capital.

To carry out their plan, the accused had arranged a kilo of explosives and materials to assemble an IED, which have been recovered. Police believe the intensity of the attack would have been similar to the 2017 BhopalUjjain passenger train bombing.

During interrogation, the accused told police that they had gathered IED components to carry out blasts in Delhi and the explosive substances were stored at Ranjeet and Zameel’s house at Krishnai town. Police then raided the two places and recovered about a kilo of explosives and IED components.

Police also recovered knives and swords from the accused, which they believe would have been used for lone-wolf attacks inspired from ISIS Bangladesh. Investigators are trying to locate the contacts of the accused in Delhi and have come across crucial information in their mobile phones.

Police said Zameel was employed as a supervisor at an Aadhaar enrolment centre. While Ranjeet worked at a fish market, Mukadir was unemployed. All the three are between 22 and 24 years of age.