Delhi police’s special cell on Friday claimed to have arrested a Jaish-e-Mohammed operative suspected to be involved in the February 14 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed in south Kashmir.
“Sajjad Khan, 27, a close aide of the mastermind of the Pulwama terror attack, Mudasir Ahmed Khan, was nabbed from near Lajpat Rai Market in Chandni Chowk…,” said a police officer.
Mudasir was recently killed in an encounter with security forces at Tral’s Pinglish area in south Kashmir.
The police, however, did not specify Sajjad’s role and how he, along with the others, plotted the Pulwama attack.
“Mudasir was a JeM terrorist and his mobile phone records indicated that he was in touch with Sajjad on the day of the attack,” the officer said.
“We got a tip-off about Sajjad having taken shelter in Delhi posing as a shawl seller. He is suspected to be working on setting up a sleeper cell in the capital,” he added.
The National Investigation Agency, which is probing the Pulwama attack, has taken custody of Sajjad, a resident of Handoora village in south Kashmir’s Tral, a militant hotbed.
The case pertains to a criminal conspiracy by the top JeM leadership based in Pakistan to strengthen the outfit’s base in India by recruiting terrorists, the NIA said in a statement.
“In furtherance of this criminal conspiracy, Sajjad Ahmed Khan was specially sent to Delhi to set up hideouts in Delhi NCR.
“This was done to select specific targets and also to radicalise and recruit Muslim youths to further terror activities,” the statement said.
Sajjad was arrested by the special cell of Delhi police late on Thursday night and produced in a special NIA court in Delhi on Friday.
The NIA filed a petition before the court at Patiala House seeking his custody for a detailed interrogation to unearth the conspiracy.
The court granted eight days’ custody.