A court here on Tuesday allowed the Delhi Police to interrogate a 40-year-old Pakistani national, arrested for allegedly having ISI links and planning to carry out a terror attack here, for two weeks in custody. Mohammad Ashraf alias Ali, a resident of Pakistan’s Punjab province, was arrested from the Laxmi Nagar area of east Delhi and police also seized arms and ammunition from his possession, the agency said.
“A terrorist, Pak national, caught by Delhi police, from Laxmi Nagar area of Delhi, staying on fake identity on forged documents, as we beefed up anti-terror alert and action across city in current festive season. Major terror plan foiled. Further probe on,” the Delhi police tweeted earlier today.
The accused was produced before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pankaj Sharma and in an in-chamber proceeding, police sought his 14-day custodial interrogation, which was allowed. The police claimed that the accused came to India via Bangladesh and had been staying in the country for 10 years after obtaining Indian identity cards through forged documents.
He was posing as a ‘maulana’ (religious preacher) and was arrested on Monday night, the police said. Ashraf was recruited by the Pakistani spy agency ISI directly after he completed his schooling and was trained for six months, it added.
Officials said Ashraf was in contact with an ISI handler whom he identified as Nasir and was supposed to get information about the planned terror attack. He has changed five-six locations in a span of 10 years, they said.
He never stayed at any specific location for long and to acquire documents, he also got married to a woman here, they said. At his instance, an AK-47 and several other arms and ammunition have been recovered.
Ashraf has been arrested under relevant provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Explosives Act and Arms Act, the police said. Police suspect that he is part of a terror module.
Further investigations are on including if a lone wolf attack had been planned, they said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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