Days after Pune police arrested two suspected terrorists Mohammad Imran Mohammad Yusuf Khan and Mohammad Yunus Mohammad Yakub Saki for their alleged involvement in a terror case in Rajasthan, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has taken over the probe. The suspected terrorists were on the “most wanted” list of the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Pune commissioner Retesh Kumarr said, “We have transferred the investigations to the ATS as per protocol. The NIA has booked the two men under the UAPA and such crimes with wider magnitude are required to be investigated by the ATS.”
In the early hours of July 18, the Pune city police arrested Mohammed Imran Mohammed Yusuf Khan, 23, and Mohammed Yunus Mohammed Yakub Saki, 24, both residents of Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh. The police are looking for their accomplice, Mohammed Shahnawaz Shafiurrehman Alam, 31, who managed to flee while being taken for a house search.
They were arrested for attempting to steal a motorcycle, but later during the probe, it was found that they were involved in the terror group Al-Sufa. It was also found that NIA has announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh on their capture.
Around 2.45 a.m., a patrolling squad from the Kothrud police station, consisting of constables Pradeep Chavan and Amol Nazan, noticed the three men stealing a two-wheeler. After a chase, the cops nabbed them.
At the Kothrud police station, an FIR was filed against them under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the Indian Arms Act, and the Maharashtra Police Act. According to the police, the accused stayed in an apartment in Chetna Garden, Mitha Nagar, Kondhwa. Both Khan and Saki are graphic artists from Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh, and Alam is from Hazaribagh, Jharkhand.
Police teams searched their Pune residence and found a number of suspicious items, including a box containing “drone material,” a pistol pouch, a live cartridge, some “white coloured pills,” fake Aadhaar cards, and various other documents. A Pune court remanded the two suspected terrorists to the custody of Pune city police till July 25 for further investigation.
The two fled Ratlam after learning that their names had surfaced in the investigation into the terror case in which some suspected Al-Sufa members had been arrested by Rajasthan police in Ratlam. It is worth recalling that in March this year, Rajasthan police’s ATS and Special Operation Group (SOG) recovered 12 kg of explosives and material used in assembling explosive devices from the Chittorgarh district. Three suspected terrorists—Zubair, Altamas, and Saifullah belonging to the Al-Sufa terrorist group was arrested.
NIA had filed a Chargesheet against Imran Khan and 10 other accused persons on 22nd September 2022 after exposing the terror plot. NIA has said that ‘Sufa’ is deeply inspired by the activities of ISIS and is inclined toward the Jihadi ideology. Members of ‘Sufa’ had motivated other youths also to join this group for carrying out terror acts.
