Lucknow: Continuing its probe in connection with the ISIS case, the Anti-Terrorist Squad of the UP police arrested Faizan Bakhteyar (24) from Aligarh on Wednesday. A cash reward of Rs 25, 000 was declared on any information leading to his arrest. So far, ATS has arrested eight persons of the module and claimed that they were planning terror attacks in religious places of UP.
Director General, Law and Order, Prashant Kumar, said that accused Faizan told during interrogation that he had taken the pledge of ISIS from Rizwan Ashraf, a resident of Prayagraj, along with his previously arrested associates, and was preparing a module of Aligarh ISIS and adding other people to it.
“The network of this Aligarh ISIS module was spread in many districts of the state. All these notorious terrorist organizations had taken allegiance to ISIS and were planning to create a major terrorist incident. Faizan was simultaneously doing MSW (MSW) from Aligarh Muslim University,” said Kumar. ATS recovered a mobile phone which has been sent for a forensic audit, the DG said.
Faizan Bakhtiyar was a resident of VM Hall hostel of AMU. He was spreading and propagating ISIS ideology online.
Additional DG, ATS, Mohit Agarwal said that ATS had cracked down on the terror network operated by a group of self-radicalized ISIS operatives associated with the SAMU. He said they were propagating the agenda and philosophy of ISIS to establish Islamic rule across the world.
Sources said that ATS had got on the gang after the Special cell of the Delhi police had arrested Shahnawaz Alam and Rizwan Ashraf who were associated with the Students of Aligarh Muslim University (SAMS) and ISIS sympathisers in November 2023. Alam and Ashraf had disclosed that they were planning attacks in Ayodhya, Akshardham in New Delhi and Chabad House in Mumbai on October 2. Later, based on their interrogation the information was exchanged with other state agencies and the ATS got on the case.
